ValleyCats Offense Stalls In Loss To Vermont

Following their 11-run outburst on Opening Night, the Tri-City ValleyCats' offense went cold in a 6-2 loss to the Vermont Lake Monsters on Saturday night.

It was a game that ValleyCats manager Jason Bell succinctly, yet fittingly, described as "bizarre."
Each team committed three errors, resulting in the game's first four runs--which were all unearned.
Tri-City's first run came home in the fourth inning, when Gilberto Celestino scampered home on fielding error by Vermont's starting pitcher Jose Mora.
After Mora failed to field a high chopper back to the mound, the ValleyCats took a 1-0 lead as far as the seventh inning.
In the seventh, Tim Hardy yielded two unearned runs on a routine ground ball that should've ended the inning.
The ball was hit slowly at ValleyCats shortstop Jeremy Pena with two outs, when he committed his second error of the game in mishandling the ground ball.
James Terrell and Jeramiah McCray came aroung to score, giving Vermont its first lead of the game.
Now down by a run, Tri-City's Gilberto Celestino answered with his first run batted in of the season.
After Ramiro Rodriguez was gifted second and third base on a throwing error by the pitcher Slater Lee, Celestino ripped a base hit into right, tying the game at two.
This hit snapped the ValleyCats' 0-for-11 skid with runners in scoring position on the night.
The ValleyCats drew 11 walks on the night, but their failure to come away with timely hits resulted in 12 men left on base.
Tri-City starter Juan Robles tightroped his way through early trouble, allowing five baserunners to reach in his four and two thirds innings of work, without allowing a run.
Tim Hardy, who took over for Robles, gave up three runs (one earned), including Vermont's decisive third run in the eighth inning.
The Lake Monsters padded their lead with back-to-back home runs off of Juan Pablo Lopez in the ninth inning.
A two-run shot by Javier Godard, immediately followed by Anthony Churlin's first home run of the season served as the icing on top of Vermont's 6-2 win.
The ValleyCats and Lake Monsters will return to Joe Bruno Stadium on Sunday to compete in the rubber match of their opening weekened series.
First pitch for Sunday's Father's Day game is slated for 5:00 p.m. with "Pirates and Princesses Night" taking over the ballpark.
Coverage will begin on the ValleyCats Radio Network with Steven Cusumano 15 minutes prior to first pitch.