Suns Upended by Crawdads' Late Rally on Wednesday

Hagerstown, MD - Nick Raquet recorded his seventh quality start of the season as the Hagerstown Suns fell to the Hickory Crawdads on Wednesday night 3-2 at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 18-34 overall and will play Hickory in the series finale on Thursday with a 7:05 PM first pitch.

The Suns took an early lead, scoring the first run of the game in the opening frame against Crawdads starter Noah Bremer. Cole Freeman led off with a double down the left-field line, going to third when Luis Garcia grounded out to first base. Nick Banks grounded a ball to the second baseman for the second out of the inning allowing Freeman to score, giving the Suns a 1-0 advantage.
The Suns extended their lead in the third against Bremer and the Crawdads. Jeyner Baez singled to center, moving to second when Armond Upshaw laid down a sacrifice bunt. Freeman grounded out to third but Garcia singled to shallow center, plating Baez to give the Suns a 2-0 lead.
Hickory narrowed the margin in the sixth while Suns starter Nick Raquet was in his final inning of work. With two outs, Preston Scott doubled to left and scored when Yohel Pozo doubled down the left-field line to cut the Suns lead to one-run. Raquet got Clay Middleton to fly out to end the inning with the Suns still leading 2-1.
Hickory took the lead in the eighth against Suns reliever Steven Fuentes in his second inning of work. Yonny Hernandez led off the inning with a single to right and went to second on a ground ball to third. With two outs, Scott sent his second double of the game to center, driving in Hernandez to tie the game, 2-2. Pozo followed up with a single to center to plate Scott and give Hickory the lead, 3-2.
In the ninth, Garcia bunted for a base-hit to put the tying run on base with one out against Crawdads reliever Sal Mendez. Garcia went to second when Banks grounded out to the pitcher, but Anderson Franco flew out to center to end the game.
Raquet went six innings while allowing one run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts in a no decision. Fuentes (0-1) went two innings in a loss, allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Phil Morse threw the ninth, getting the side in order with a strikeout.
Notes: Raquet had his seventh quality start of the season in 10 starts… The Suns have 13 as a team… He recorded at least four strikeouts for the sixth consecutive game… The no decision is just his second of the season… He's lasted at least six innings in each of his last four outings… All four have been quality starts… Esthay extended his hit streak to four games… Garcia had his 12^th multi-hit game of the season… Hagerstown left two runners on base, which is a season-low… The previous low was three on May 9 against the West Virginia Power… Panaccione had his first hit of the 2018 season… The fourth straight loss ties a season-high losing streak for Hagerstown… It's the third time the Suns have lost four straight… Hagerstown is 0-5 at home on Wednesdays… The Suns play the third and final game against Hickory on Thursday with a 7:05 PM first pitch… It's thirsty Thursday at the Muni… Fans can take advantage of beer specials starting at just $2… The Suns will start RHP Kyle Johnston (0-1, 2.51 ERA) while Hickory will send a RHP A.J. Alexy (1-4, 5.13 ERA) to the hill… 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" which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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