Suns Ninth Inning Push Comes Up Short in 5-2 Loss

Rome, GA -  The Hagerstown Suns scored two runs in the ninth inning, but the rally came up short as the Suns fell to the Rome Braves on Saturday night 5-2 at State Mutual Stadium. Hagerstown is 0-3 overall and will wrap up the four-game series against the Braves tomorrow afternoon with a 2:00 PM first pitch.

Suns starter Jackson Tetreault held the Braves scoreless until the fourth inning. Drew Lugbauer singled to right and went to second on a fielding error by Juan Soto. In the next at-bat, Jefery Ramos doubled to left to plate Lugbauer and give Rome a 1-0 lead. With one out, Kurt Hoekstra flew out to left, allowing Ramos to score and extend the Rome lead to 2-0. Tetreault got Carlos Martínez to fly out to right, ending the inning.
Rome added three more to their lead in the fifth against Tetreault and Suns reliever A.J. Bogucki. Luis Mejia led off with a single and Isranel Wilson walked. Derian Cruz tripled to right field to clear the bases and put the Braves up by a score of 4-0. Tetreault got the next two hitters out, but the Suns went to the bullpen with Bogucki entering the game. Ramos singled on the first pitch from Bogucki to drive in Cruz and give Rome a 5-0 advantage. Jean Carlos Encarnacion flew out to right field to end the inning.
The Suns mounted a rally in the ninth inning against Braves reliever Jacob Belinda, who entered in the eighth inning. With one out, Anderson Franco and Kameron Esthay walked, and Branden Boggetto doubled to left. Franco scored and Esthay went to third to make it a 5-1 Rome lead. Aldrem Corredor grounded out to second for the second out of the inning, but Esthay scored to cut the deficit to three runs. Joey Harris struck out swinging to end the game and the really, with the Suns falling 5-2.
Tetreault (0-1) lasted 4.2 innings in the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Bogucki went 2.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing a hit with four strikeouts. Kyle Johnston pitched the eighth inning, holding Rome to one hit and a walk with one strikeout.
Notes: Tetrault's six strikeout ties his career high… Johnston and Bogucki both made their first appearances out of the bullpen… Boggetto has a hit in each of his first two games, and is batting .400… The Suns will complete the four-game series against the Braves on Saturday at State Mutual Stadium with a 2:00 PM first pitch… Hagerstown will send RHP Jackson Tetreault (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound while Rome will counter with LHP Bruce Zimmermann (0-0, 0.00 ERA) …