DANVILLE, Va.- The Danville Braves battled early but ultimately dropped the series finale against the Princeton Rays by a final tally of 6-4 on Tuesday night.. The loss snapped a modest two-game winning streak for the Braves, while it gave the Rays their first win of the season.
DANVILLE, Va.- The Danville Braves battled early but ultimately dropped the series finale against the Princeton Rays by a final tally of 6-4 on Tuesday night.. The loss snapped a modest two-game winning streak for the Braves, while it gave the Rays their first win of the season.
The first two innings gave the impression that the game was going to be another high scoring hit fest, much like the first game of the series was. Princeton (1-5) opened the game with a single, a triple, and a double off Braves' starter Dilmer Mejia, quickly putting the Rays up 2-0 before Mejia could even register an out.
The Braves (3-3) countered in the bottom of the first when, with a runner on first, Hagen Owenby hit a high fly ball deep to right field. Rays right fielder Bryce Brown sprinted back towards the wall and appeared to have a play on it before crashing into the fence. He crumpled to the ground as Owenby continued to circle the bases for an inside-the-park home run, tying the score at 2-2; It was the first professional home run of Owenby's career. Brown stayed on the ground for several minutes as he was attended to by the trainers of both teams before eventually getting up and walking off slowly under his own power.
In the top of the second, with two outs and a runner on second, Rays' leadoff hitter Carl Chester hit a scorching line drive to third base. Nick Shumpert could not get his glove down in time and the resulting two base error gave the Rays their second lead of the game, 3-2. But yet again, the resilient Braves countered in the bottom half of the inning on a swinging bunt single by Derian Cruz that scored Griffin Benson.The Braves would briefly hold the lead when Rays starter Joey Peguero uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Shumpert to scramble home and put the Braves on top 4-3.
In the 5th inning with new Braves pitcher Zach Rice (0-1) in the game, a routine grounder to Shumpert was thrown away, resulting in an error. Shumpert's error, his second of the game, would loom large, as two more runs would score because of it. The Rays also added an insurance run in the 6th on a base hit off the bat of Moises Gomez.
The other main storyline was that of the Princeton bullpen. After Peguero and his 96-mph fastball departed after four innings, Josh Fleming (1-0) and Reynier Montero (SV, 1) combined to throw five hitless innings, including four 1-2-3 frames. The Rays outhit the Braves 9 to 5.
WHAT'S NEXT:
Danville begins a three game road series against the Burlington Royals (2-3), who won their first game of the season today in a completion of a previously suspended game. Odalvi Javier gets the ball to begin that series. The Braves will return home Saturday, July 1st for a three game set with the Elizabethton Twins.
