Daytona Comes from Behind to Snap Losing Streak
The Cubs gave up an early lead to the Lakeland Flying Tigers as Daytona starting pitcher Chris Archer allowed two runs to be plated in the second inning with an error. Archer was unable to handle a good throw from first baseman Rebel Ridling as he was covering first. This allowed Billy Nowlin and Bryan Pounds to come home for the Tigers.
Things settled down until the top of the sixth inning when Ridling came to bat for the Daytona Cubs. Brett Jackson led off the inning with a lead-off single and Ridling followed him up with a towering two-run home run over the left field wall. This blast tied the game at two runs apiece.
The game would not remain a tie for long as Lakeland tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Cubs reliever Chris Siegfried gave up a lead-off triple to Tigers shortstop Gustavo Nunez. One pitch later, Nunez was driven in by a single off the bat of center fielder Daniel Fields.
The Cubs came up to bat in the top of the ninth down by one. The late inning offensive heroics finally came through as Daytona put together a four-run inning. D.J. LeMahieu got things started with a one-out single off Tigers reliever Lester Oliveros (0-1). Pinch-hitter Kyler Burke followed LeMahieu up with a walk. Andy Barkett went back to the pen and brought Erik Crichton in to face pinch-hitter Nelson Perez. Crichton got Perez on three pitches, but then Lake singled to left to score LeMahieu. With two on, David Macias rolled one to third that was fielded by Bryan Pounds. He tried to go to second to force out Lake, but his throw was wild and rolled all the way down the right field line. Burke and Lake scored and Macias ended up at third. Brett Jackson capped the inning off with a single to center to bring home Macias.
David Patton (2-1) picked up the win for Daytona with an inning and two-thirds of scoreless baseball. Oliveros took the loss as he blew his first save of the year. Luke Sommer pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save of the year.
The Cubs and Tigers will return to action at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning for game two of the series. Listen to all the action on AM 1340 WROD or online at www.daytonacubs.com.