Monster Mudcats Innings

4/28/22 Game Recap

by: Jackson Pass

In game one of the night, the resumption of Tuesday night's rainout, after 8 pitches and the conclusion of the top of the first, we are back underway. The Woodies started the game off getting one on with a walk but could not get anything going. Gavin Collyer back on the mound, allowed Mendez on with a single to leadoff the second inning, before racking up two K’s with a strike him out throw him out double play to end the top half. Woodies were first on the board with a sacrifice fly to left by Junior Paniagua, scoring Efrenyer Narvaez. Carolina came back to score one in the top of the third on an RBI groundout, tying the game at one a piece.

The Woodies take the lead in the bottom of the fourth, as Alejandro Osuna puts a dent in the scoreboard with a solo home run to left. Damian Mendoza relieved Collyer in the fifth, Collyer with 4.0 pitched and 5 strikeouts to his name, allowing one run. Maximo Acosta played great defense behind Mendoza, making a Derek Jeter jumping throw from deep short for the second out of the inning. The Mudcats leave two on, reaching on a single and a walk.

The Woodies scored in three consecutive innings, in the bottom of the sixth, Jose Rodrigiez doubled to the warning track to leadoff the inning. Narvaez flew out to right to advance Rodriguez to third and Osuna hit Rodriguez in with a sac fly on the warning track in CF, Woodies up 3-1. Maximo Acosta continued with some defensive wizardry with a spinning throw from up the middle to retire Chirinos in the top of the seventh. Micah Bello gets aboard with his second hit of the night, before a 6-4 fielder's choice ends the Mudcats turn at the plate. Christian Tripp replaced Jimenez in the bottom of the seventh, Jimenez leaving with 6.0 innings, six strikeouts and three earned runs. Barreto singles and steals second to score from second on a sac fly to right from Daniel Mateo, with the right fielder not knowing the outs, making it Woodies 4-1.

Tejada replaces Mendoza, throwing 3.0 with three K’s, as Cipion reaches on an infield hit, Tejada strikes out the second batter. Gacia singled to make it 1st and 3rd for the Mudcats. A passed ball allowed the runner on third to score and the runner on first to move up to second, as Leury covers the plate and gets injured with the runner sliding into him. Mudcats down 4-2. Anothony Hoopi-Tuionetoa comes in from the pen. An error on the third baseman allowed runners to first and third. Another error on the third baseman makes it 4-3. A wild pitch allowed runners to advance to second and third and a 2 run RBI double by Perez, making it a monster four run inning as the Mudcats took the lead 5-4. Micah Bello strikes out to end the inning. The Woodies tied it back up 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth with Narvaez singling to bring in Marcus Smith.

The Mudcats bring across the final run of the night with Jheremy Vargas reaching on another error and scoring on a sac fly by Eduardo Garcia. The Woodies did not have an answer and the game ended 6-5 in a Mudcats win.

Turning to the seven inning game two, Josh Stephan with a 2.77 ERA takes the mound for the Woodies and retires the first three Carolina batters. The Woodies take flight in the first with a four hit inning with a grand slam by Brady Smith and a back to back oppo taco from Yosy Galan taking the lead 5-0. The Mudcats retaliated with a six run inning with three hits and two more errors on the Woodies defense to take the lead 6-5, ending the night for Stephan as Lockhart came in from the Duck Blind, where it remained for the rest of the night. The rest of the night went relatively silent with Nick Lockhart and Theo McDowell keeping the Mudcats off the board and Israel Puello regaining his composure to throw 6.0 innings, fanning nine Woodies batters, receiving the win, and Carlos Morales relieved him to throw the last inning retiring three Woodies in a row to get the save.

The Wood Ducks (8-11) and Carolina Mudcats (10-9) continue their series tomorrow, Saturday, April 30th, with the series in the Mudcats favor 3-1, as the first pitch is set for 5:00 p.m. in Kinston, NC at Grainger Stadium.

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