Carolina Blanked 8-0 in Series Opener in Kinston

KINSTON, NC - Bowden Francis allowed six runs and six hits in his Carolina debut and the Mudcats allowed eight runs and 12 hits overall while suffering an 8-0 series opening road loss to the Wood Ducks on Tuesday night. The loss dropped Carolina to 0-7 at Grainger Stadium in Kinston this season.

Joe Palumbo started and totaled nine strikeouts, three walks and just two hits allowed while pitching through five and 1/3 scoreless frames for the Wood Ducks (16-35, 51-70). Palumbo (1-4, 2.67) gave up a hit in the first and fifth, but retired the side in order in the third and fourth before striking out Mario Feliciano and leaving the game in the sixth.
Relievers Kaleb Fontenot (0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R) and Tyler Thomas (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 SO) followed Palumbo and went on to hold Carolina (23-26, 57-62) without a run the rest of the way while leading Down East to the shutout victory.
Francis (0-1, 12.46) began his outing by retiring the first two batters he faced in the first before allowing back-to-back doubles to Anderson Tejeda and Chuck LeBlanc. Tejeda scored on LeBlanc's double and the Wood Ducks had a 1-0 lead after the first. They then took a 3-0 lead after scoring twice on one hit, two walks and a bases loaded hit by pitch in the second.
Down East was eventually held scoreless in the third and fourth, but went on to rally for three more runs in the fifth while knocking Francis out of the game. Francis allowed a hit to Tejeda, walked LeBlanc and then gave up a two-run double to Yanio Perez before leaving the game. Wuilder Rodriguez followed and immediately allowed two inherited runners to score after giving up a two-run single to Andretty Cordero.
Francis ended up allowing six runs on six hits over four and 1/3 innings in his debut. He also walked three, struck out two and reached 87 pitches (50 strikes) in the loss.
Rodriguez stayed in through the seventh and would end up allowing two runs on five hits and struck out three over two and 2/3 innings. He gave up a solo home run to Brenden Davis in the sixth and one more run in the seventh before leaving the game.
Phil Bickford finished out the game for the Mudcats and worked through a scoreless eighth with a walk and a strikeout.
The loss dropped Carolina to 2-3 in their current seven game road trip and was club's ninth shutout loss of the season. The Mudcats will look to move to back to an even .500 on the trip with a victory in game two of the three game series on Wednesday night with the first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Kinston. The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, the Big Dawg 98.5 FM and via TuneIn Radio at carolinamudcats.com.
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