Hillcats Come Up Short in Series Opener, 6-4
SUMMARY
Potomac scored two runs on two wild pitches by Mitch Brown that proved to be the difference in the game while Lynchburg stranded 10 runners, including the bases loaded on two occasions, to fall in the series opener against Potomac at City Stadium Monday night, 6-4.
OUT OF THE GATE QUICKLY
Lynchburg's streak of consecutive games with a home run reached three games after Clint Frazier posted his seventh long ball of the season from the leadoff spot. The home run gave Lynchburg their league-leading 49th bomb of the year. The Carolina Mudcats are the next closest team with 34 home runs of their own.
NECK AND NECK INTO THE FIRST TURN
In the bottom of the third inning with the Nationals up 2-1, Nellie Rodriguez took advantage of some free bases that were awarded by Reynaldo Lopez with an RBI single that drove in Paul Hendrix, who reached on a walk, to knot the game up at two.
WILD THING
Pitching seemed a bit sloppy for both Potomac and Lynchburg throughout the game. The two teams combined for 11 walks, four hit batters, and four wild pitches in the contest. Potomac scored two of their first three runs in the game on wild pitches by Mitch Brown. In the top of the third inning, Adrian Sanchez reached on a walk to start the inning and eventually came around to score on the first of Brown's wild pitches to put the Nationals up, 1-0. In the top of the fourth inning, John Wooten reached second on a fielder's choice and an error by Joe Sever and then advanced to third on a groundout by Brandon Miller before he scored on another wild pitch by Brown that put the Nationals up 3-2.
Lynchburg took advantage of some pitching mistakes as well. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Ivan Castillo led off the inning with a single and reached third after a sacrifice bunt by Clint Frazier and advancing on a fly out by Paul Hendrix. Castillo would score on a wild pitch by Wander Suero to bring the Hillcats within three, 6-3.
LEFT BEHIND
There were plenty of opportunities for the Hillcats to regain the lead after falling behind 3-2 in the in the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom half of the sixth inning, the Hillcats loaded the bases after a double by Nellie Rodriguez, followed by a single by Joe Sever and a walk by Mike Papi, but a fly out by Juan De La Cruz left all three runners stranded. The same happened again in the bottom of the eighth inning when a strikeout ended the frame with three men on base. Sever scored earlier in the inning on a bases loaded walk to Ivan Castillo, which put the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first, but the Hillcats rally stopped there with Lynchburg still trailing, 6-4. The Hillcats left a total of 10 runners stranded, seven of which were left in scoring position.
KEEPING UP WITH THE 'CATS
With the loss, the Hillcats fell to 6-7 against the Nationals this season and 1-4 against them at home…Mitch Brown won his last start on the road against Salem, but allowed five runs on six hits while striking out four tonight to earn his seventh loss of the season.
UP NEXT
Lynchburg looks to return to the win column after losing its last two when it squares off against Potomac Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Dace Kime (2-2, 4.55) will start for the Hillcats against Nick Pivetta (5-4, 2.58). Fans can tune in to the action on ESPN Virginia 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com