Suns Shutout 5-0 on Wednesday

Hagerstown, MD -  The Hagerstown Suns were held to three hits in a 5-0 shutout loss on Wednesday evening to open up a three-game series against the Columbia Fireflies at Historic Municipal Stadium. The setback puts the Suns at 6-13 in the second half and 33-54 overall with the second game of the series set for a 7:05 PM first pitch on Thursday.

Columbia took the lead in the first inning with two outs against Suns starter Tomas Alastre. Matt Winaker tripled into the right-field corner and scored when Scott Manea doubled to left to give the Fireflies a 1-0 advantage. Dionis Paulino hammered home the second run of the game in the second inning, connecting with a 399-foot home run to give the Fireflies a 2-0 lead.
The visitors tacked on to their lead in the third with Alastre back on the mound. With one out, Blake Tiberi singled and with two outs Manea hit a deep ground-rule double to left field the on-hopped the wall and moved Tiberi to third. Quinn Brody drove both runners in with an RBI double to the right-center field gap with Columbia taking a 4-0 lead.
Paulino did more damage to lead off the sixth with Alastre in his final inning of work. The lefty hit his second homer of the game to give the Fireflies a 5-0 lead. The Suns were shutout and held to just three hits on the night with Jake Scudder, Nick Coruby, and Omar Meregildo collecting hits for Hagerstown in the loss.
Alastre (3-4) tossed six innings while allowing five runs on eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts in a losing effort. Carlos Pena threw two shutout innings in relief, allowing one hit with a strikeout. Connor Zwetsch entered out of the bullpen in the ninth, allowing one hit.
Notes: Scudder has a three-game hit streak… Zwetsch made his Suns debut after being added to the roster earlier in the day… The eight hits allowed by Alastre ties a season and career high, which he's done three times… He's lasted at least five innings in each of his last eight starts… Hagerstown has been shut out 13 times this season… Wednesday was the third time they've been shut out in the second half… The Suns and Fireflies play the second game of the series on Thursday with a 7:05 PM first pitch… It's Thirsty Thursday at Historic Municipal Stadium… Hagerstown will send RHP Andrew Lee (2-2, 5.00) to the mound against Columbia RHP Tony Dibrell (3-4, 3.59)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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