Lakewood Hands Hagerstown Fifth Loss in a Row

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - South Atlantic League home run leader Darick Hall went deep twice and drove in seven runs as the Hagerstown Suns (29-28, 67-59) suffered a 14-4 loss to the Lakewood BlueClaws (67-62, 27-32) at Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night.
Ten different BlueClaws recorded a base hit as Hagerstown allowed a season-high 18 hits, matching the previous mark set by the Hickory Crawdads on July 31. The Suns now trail the first-place Crawdads and Greensboro Grasshoppers by four games in the SAL Northern Division second-half title chase with 11 games remaining. 
Hall began his landmark night with an RBI groundout in the first. Hagerstown answered with an RBI single by Anderson Franco in the bottom of the first, but Lakewood erupted for six runs in the third inning and never looked back. Eleven BlueClaws came to the plate in that decisive frame to score three earned runs against Carlos Pena (Loss, 6-6), including an RBI single by Hall.
Pena left his first home start since June 10 after allowing seven runs on five hits with no strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. Kyle Simonds relieved Pena in the third and gave up a two-run homer to Hall in the fourth that set a new Lakewood franchise record on his 25th home run this season. 
Simonds gave up a second homer to Hall in the fifth as the 22-year-old first baseman tallied seven RBI in the game and pushed his league-leading tally to 93 runs batted in this year. Hall finished the night 4-for-6 at the plate with three runs scored.
Simonds left the ballgame after working 3 1/3 innings of relief with five earned runs on ten hits and three strikeouts. Sam Held pitched one night before his 23rd birthday and tossed the final three innings with one earned run on three hits.
Despite the big deficit, Hagerstown kept swinging as Branded Boggetto tallied a sac fly RBI in the fourth followed by an RBI groundout from Oliver Ortiz . Franco tallied the only multi-hit game for the Suns with a 2-for-3 effort and a run scored, but the Suns lost for the ninth time in their last eleven games.
On Thursday, the Suns complete their weeklong homestand with a final regular season matchup against the Lakewood BlueClaws. Suns lefty Ben Braymer (1-2, 7.71) gets the start at 7:05 p.m. against Lakewood righty Mauricio Llovera (1-3, 3.00). It's Thirsty Thursday at Municipal Stadium with beer prices starting at just two dollars each. For tickets, call (301) 791-6266 or visit hagerstownsuns.com.