'Cats Walk to a Walk-off vs. Spinners
TROY, NY-The Tri-City ValleyCats won in walk-off fashion for the second night in a row, defeating the Lowell Spinners 4-3 on a bases loaded full count walk to Ravel Santana with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Monday night.
One night after the 'Cats came from behind to defeat the Connecticut Tigers, they did the same against the Spinners, except in an even more exciting way.
After ValleyCats starter Troy Scribner struck out eight batters through the first four innings, the two teams entered the fifth frame tied 0-0. In the bottom of the fifth, Tri-City second baseman Alex Hernandez singled down the left-field line, scoring Ariel Ovando from second base.
Unfortunately, the Spinners took the lead only one half-inning later, scoring three runs off of Tri-City reliever Randall Fant in the top of the sixth.
Lowell held the lead until the eighth inning, when down 3-2, A.J. Reed led off for the ValleyCats with a walk. The Astros' 2014 2nd round pick then proceeded to steal second base, advance to third on a bunt, and score the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly by Santana.
That set the tone for the ninth inning, when for the second night in a row, the Tri-City ValleyCats entered the final frame tied. After 'Cats reliever Raul Rivera retired the Spinners in order, Hernandez led off the bottom of the ninth by reaching on an error. After a sacrifice bunt and a ground out, Lowell reliever Ellis Jimenez intentionally walked Reed, then unintentionally walked Nick Tanielu to load the bases. Then, after working the count full, Santana took a fastball high and outside, driving in the game-winning run without the ValleyCats even getting a base hit during the frame.
Rivera earned his first win (1-0) in the process, as the ValleyCats advanced to 3-1 on the season. Jimenez got charged with the loss for the Spinners in his New York Penn-League debut.
The two teams will have only a few hours to recover from Monday's ballgame, as they will conclude the two-game series on Tuesday with a 10:00am first pitch. The ValleyCats welcome local schools to their first ever Education Day. RHP Francis Ramirez will get the start for Tri-City, with RHP Dioscar Romero starting for Lowell.