Hagerstown, MD - Alex Troop and Kyle Johnston each had seven strikeouts for the Hagerstown Suns on Sunday afternoon but lost the final contest of a four-game set with the Lexington Legends 9-2. Hagerstown is 5-12 overall and will return to Municipal Stadium on Monday at 6:05 PM to face
Hagerstown, MD - Alex Troop and Kyle Johnston each had seven strikeouts for the Hagerstown Suns on Sunday afternoon but lost the final contest of a four-game set with the Lexington Legends 9-2. Hagerstown is 5-12 overall and will return to Municipal Stadium on Monday at 6:05 PM to face the Lakewood BlueClaws starting a seven-game home stand.
The Suns plated the first run on the game in the second inning against Legends starter Nolan Watson. Anderson Franco reached on an error and Yasel Antuna singled to right, moving Franco to third. Antuna was caught trying to steal second base and Kameron Esthay singled to right, driving in Franco to give the Suns a 1-0 lead.
The Legends tied the game in the second against Alex Troop. With two outs, Jeison Guzman bunted for a single and went to second on a throwing error by Cole Freeman at second base. Sebastian Rivero reached on an error and Guzman scored to tie the game, 1-1.
Troop struck out seven Legends through the first three innings but ran into trouble in the fourth. Guzman led off with a single, and Sebastian Rivero clubbed a homer to make it a 3-1 Legends lead. Matt Morales walked, and Cal Jones doubled to right, with Morales scoring when Travis Jones grounded out to short to make it 4-1. With two outs, Suely Matias doubled to center, driving in Cal Jones and making it 5-1, with Lexington on top of the Suns.
In the eighth, Lexington extended their lead against Suns reliever Kyle Johnston. With one out, Guzman singled to right and Rivero singled to left to get a pair of runners a board for the Legends. Johnston struck out Morales (his sixth of the game), but Cal Jones followed up with a three-run homer to left, extending the Legends lead to 8-1. Travis Jones singled to right and Nick Pratto doubled to left, driving in Jones to give Lexington an eight-run advantage at 9-1. After a wild pitch that move Pratto to third, Johnston struck out his seventh hitter of the game in Matias, giving the Suns a total of 14 on the day.
Hagerstown fought back against Legends reliever Tyler Zuber in the ninth. Aldrem Corredor singled to center and with one out, Armond Upshaw doubled to right, moving Corredor to third. Matias slipped and fell when Freeman hit a fly ball to right field, with the result being a single that Corredor scored to turn it into a 9-2 game with Upshaw going to third. Zuber struck out both Garcia and Soto for the final outs of the game, with Hagerstown taking their 12th loss of the season.
Troop (1-2) took the loss while allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Johnston threw the final four innings, allowing four runs on five hits with seven strikeouts.
Notes: The 14 combined strikeouts between Troop and Johnston are the most in a game this season, surpassing the previous high of 13 set on April 10 at Columbia… Troop set a career-high with seven strike outs… He tied his season-high with four innings of work… He also eclipsed career-highs in hits and runs allowed… Johnston's seven strikeouts also set a career high… The Suns went without a home-run for the first time in five games… Adderling Ruiz played in his first game of 2018 after being activated from the DL yesterday… Antuna, Freeman, and Soto all have three-game hit streaks… Corredor had his third multi-hit game of the season… Suns manager Patrick Anderson was ejected in the seventh inning with one out… The Suns take on the Lakewood BlueClaws on Monday at Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown with a 6:05 PM first pitch… Hagerstown will send LHP Nick Raquet (0-2, 3.45 ERA) to the mound against Lakewood LHP David Parkinson (1-0, 0.00 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 5:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live" which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android… The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
