Bees Run Interference at Dragons
The Bee got on the board first with a two-out rally against Dragons' starter Travis Webb in the third inning. Jeremy Jirschele and Jarrod Dyson started the rally with singles. Chris McConnell followed with a slow chopper to second. Justin Turner tried to flip to second to force out Dyson, but Jarrod beat the play and the bases were loaded. Marc Maddox guided a base hit through the right side to drive in two runs and extended his hitting streak to nine. Webb got out of the inning without allowing any more runs and struck out eight over five innings.
Jason Godin was impressive in his Bees' debut on the mound. He retired the first eleven men that he faced to start the game before a two-out walk to Chris Valaika in the fourth. After a single and another walk, the Dragons had the bases loaded, but Godin got a groundout to finish with four shutout innings under his belt. Everett Teaford took over in the fifth and retired the first six batters he faced before things took an about face in the seventh.
Juan Francisco led off the inning with a long home run to right-center field that got the Dragons on the board. After base hits by Denis Phipps and Logan Parker, Jason Louwsma came up and popped up a pitch on the infield for the apparent first out of the inning, but Louwsma had hit Brady Everett's glove with the swing and the catcher's interference call loaded the bases with no outs. Chris Hayes was brought in from the bullpen and on his first pitch, Dragons' catcher Tony Esquer swung late and hit Everett's glove again for another interference call that forced in the tying run. Chris Heisey then hit a chopper to third. Jirschele took a step to his left, fielded the ball, spun and threw for the plate, but bounced the throw in the dirt and everyone was safe giving the Dragons a 3-2 lead. Drew Stubbs added a sacrifice fly to center before Hayes got out of the inning. Only one of the four runs was earned, but the Dragons led.
Ramon Geronimo (1-0) had pitched the sixth and seventh innings for the Dragons and became the winning pitcher when Lee Tabor worked a scoreless eighth and Jose Rojas struck out two in a perfect ninth for his fourth save. Teaford (1-1) got the loss. Hayes allowed one more run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Bees are off tomorrow and will be back home on Thursday and Friday to take on the Swing of the Quad Cities. RH Mario Santiago (0-1, 2.35) will start for the Bees on a Sombrero Bar & Grill Thirsty Thursday sponsored by Classic Hits KQ92. Gates open at 6:00. There will also be fireworks after Friday's game - also starting at 7:00.