Hub City’s quest to get off the schneid after dropping their fourth straight and ninth out of the last ten continued Saturday afternoon with Aj Russell (1-1, 3.12 ERA) going opposite right hander Trevor Harrison (1-1, 5.29).
Russell kept the trend of clean first innings alive, and on the first pitch of the bottom of the frame, Yeison Morrobel provided a jolt. Going over the video board in right for his second monster solo bomb in as many games and giving Hub City an early 1-0 edge.
Russell’s second inning started with a walk to Tony Santa Maria. But, new catcher Arturo De Freitas showed off his arm, catching him stealing ahead of another walk to Ryan McCoy, who De Freitas also later gunned out trying to steal. Noah Myers singled with two away, but he was left on as Carlos Colmenarez flew to center.
The Burgers had a chance to add on in the ensuing half when Gleider Figuereo got things started with a single. Quincy Scott II then reached on a fielding error charged to the third baseman. De Freitas lined to right, advancing Figuereo on the play. But Scott was picked off and Carter Garate flew out to center to squander the opportunity, keeping it a 1-0 game heading to the third.
Larry Martinez started that frame with a base hit, later forced on a fielder’s choice Jhon Diaz reached on. Aidan Smith ended up being injured on a strange play where he hit a fair ball off his hand up the first base line, going down as an unassisted comebacker and advancing the lead runner to third. After a walk to Narciso Polanco, Russell was taken down for J’Briell Easley, who got out of the inning with a ground ball to short to preserve the Hub City lead.
After Easley worked around a one out walk in the top of the fourth, the Burgers were able to add on. Hector Osorio led off with a double off the center fielder’s glove and advanced on a ground ball to second from Maxton Martin. Gleider Figuereo singled to plate Osorio and Quincy Scott II made it back to back knocks. But, De Freitas grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning with the Burgers up 2-0.
Bowling Green broke the goose egg in the top of the sixth when Polanco and Connor Hujsak singled back to back off Ismael Agreda. With one away, Ryan McCoy drew a walk to load the bases, later to be forced on an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Noah Myers. Colmenarez then tried to manufacture a run with a squeeze bunt, but was gunned out 5-3 to retire the side with Hub City’s lead cut in half.
Agreda went on to toss three innings with one earned run on five hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Ben DeTaeye came on to toss the eighth, striking out the side, but when he came back for the ninth, he gave up a leadoff homer off the video board to Colmenarez. De Taney bounced back and got the next three in order to send the game to the home half in a 2-2 knot. But, it would take more than nine to decide after Hub City went down in order in the home half.
DeTaeye got a third inning of work in the top of the 10th, leaving the ghost runner on after a strikeout, pop up to short, and a grounder to first. In the bottom half, Hub City finally snapped the skid after a wild pitch advanced Chandler Pollard, who was pinch running for the scheduled ghost runner De Freitas. Garate lifted a sac fly to shallow center, scoring Pollard with relative ease to walk it off for a 3-2 victory.
The series concludes Sunday at 2:05 PM as the Burgers look to go into the All Star Break with some positive momentum. The matchup will feature DJ McCarty (2-4, 5.96 ERA) against right hander Jacob Kisting (4-0, 1.85).
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