AUBURN - It was a night of firsts for the Auburn Doubledays but unfortunately, most of them weren't good ones.
With a 6-4 loss to Mahoning Valley on Wednesday night at Falcon Park, it was the Doubledays' first series defeat of the season. It was also the first time they had a lead in a ballgame and blew it, and off Zach Booker's bat in the seventh inning - it was the first time a Doubledays pitcher allowed a home run this season.
“I don't want to say that we had the cat in the bag,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “We had a nice four run lead though.”
The positives came early at the plate for Auburn, when it was the first time the team ripped two homers in a game this year. Designated hitter Adam Amar wasted little time in earning his second home run of the season when he cracked Brad
Hinkle's fifth pitch over the left field wall to lead off the second inning.
Hinkle, the Scrappers' starting pitcher, continued his struggles into the fourth. Amar earned a single with one out and then Bartolo Nicolas drove his first pitch into right field for another single. Hinkle's next pitch didn't provide much more relief when left fielder Brian Van Kirk crushed his first home run of his professional career over the right field wall to give the Doubledays a four run lead.
Auburn's scoreboard advantage seemed insurmountable - until the momentum shifted permanently. On the hill, Joel Carreno had a fantastic first start of the season, throwing five innings and allowing just six baserunners. In the sixth though, Marcus Waldon came in relief of Carreno and didn't fare quite as well. He faced just four batters in the sixth, and threw out two Scrappers batters, but they would be his only two strikeouts of the game.
A Brock Simpson single led off the seventh, but it was followed by Booker's home run - his first of the season. The blast was followed by three more hits in the frame, including an RBI triple by Corteze Armstrong.
Two of the Doubledays' three errors highlighted the eight inning, when a Simpson double and an infield throwing error saw the Scrappers take their first lead of the game. A Juan Valdez score on what would have been a Jason Rodriguez RBI single was called back on an umpire appeal and it was determined that Valdez never touched third base. The rescinded run didn't matter much in the end, however, when Ryan Blair belted an RBI double to score Armstrong in the ninth off of Jay Monti. Ryan Page came in and threw two pitches to get out of the ninth, as Simpson flew out to left field.
Waldon got the loss after three innings, after he allowed eight of the Scrappers' 13 hits.
“We were kind of in a Catch-22 situation where we had two guys piggy-backing,” Holmberg said. “Both Carreno and Waldon are starters and we didn't want to necessarily want Carreno going six innings and then leaving three innings for Waldon. That's not blaming anyone, but if I had my druthers, I might have left Carreno in there another inning or two. Looking at his last start, Waldon pitched extremely well. He didn't pitch that bad tonight - he made some bad pitches with two strikes. Just some pitching mistakes tonight.”
For the second straight night, Auburn stranded nine batters even though the team earned 10 hits - also for the second consecutive game.
“Nobody's invincible,” Holmberg said. “We won the ballgame early and they won the ballgame late.”
With two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, first baseman David Cooper hit into the second double play of the night to end the game.
“That's going to happen,” Holmberg said. “He's got a good swing though - he'll continue to make adjustments.”
Notes: Liverpool native Jimmy Dougher was one of three Doubledays' pitchers that were called up to Class A Lansing after the game, Dougher appeared in two games (4 2-3 innings), allowed two hits, no runs and fanned five batters. ...Amar was a triple away from hitting for the cycle, he grounded out to first base in his final at bat in the seventh. ...Auburn's five errors in the last two games are more than the previous seven contests combined. ...There were five double plays turned in the game overall, Auburn's defense had three of them. ...Wilfredo Ramirez got the win for the Scrappers, pitching the final two innings. ...With one more stolen base by Chris Demons in the seventh, the Doubledays lead the New York-Penn League with 13 overall this season.
Scrappers 6
Doubledays 4
D-days Today
Record: 6-3
Standings: First place, .5-game lead
Next: vs. State College, 7 p.m.
“I don't want to say that we had the cat in the bag,” Doubledays manager Dennis Holmberg said. “We had a nice four run lead though.”
The positives came early at the plate for Auburn, when it was the first time the team ripped two homers in a game this year. Designated hitter Adam Amar wasted little time in earning his second home run of the season when he cracked Brad
Hinkle's fifth pitch over the left field wall to lead off the second inning.
Hinkle, the Scrappers' starting pitcher, continued his struggles into the fourth. Amar earned a single with one out and then Bartolo Nicolas drove his first pitch into right field for another single. Hinkle's next pitch didn't provide much more relief when left fielder Brian Van Kirk crushed his first home run of his professional career over the right field wall to give the Doubledays a four run lead.
Auburn's scoreboard advantage seemed insurmountable - until the momentum shifted permanently. On the hill, Joel Carreno had a fantastic first start of the season, throwing five innings and allowing just six baserunners. In the sixth though, Marcus Waldon came in relief of Carreno and didn't fare quite as well. He faced just four batters in the sixth, and threw out two Scrappers batters, but they would be his only two strikeouts of the game.
A Brock Simpson single led off the seventh, but it was followed by Booker's home run - his first of the season. The blast was followed by three more hits in the frame, including an RBI triple by Corteze Armstrong.
Two of the Doubledays' three errors highlighted the eight inning, when a Simpson double and an infield throwing error saw the Scrappers take their first lead of the game. A Juan Valdez score on what would have been a Jason Rodriguez RBI single was called back on an umpire appeal and it was determined that Valdez never touched third base. The rescinded run didn't matter much in the end, however, when Ryan Blair belted an RBI double to score Armstrong in the ninth off of Jay Monti. Ryan Page came in and threw two pitches to get out of the ninth, as Simpson flew out to left field.
Waldon got the loss after three innings, after he allowed eight of the Scrappers' 13 hits.
“We were kind of in a Catch-22 situation where we had two guys piggy-backing,” Holmberg said. “Both Carreno and Waldon are starters and we didn't want to necessarily want Carreno going six innings and then leaving three innings for Waldon. That's not blaming anyone, but if I had my druthers, I might have left Carreno in there another inning or two. Looking at his last start, Waldon pitched extremely well. He didn't pitch that bad tonight - he made some bad pitches with two strikes. Just some pitching mistakes tonight.”
For the second straight night, Auburn stranded nine batters even though the team earned 10 hits - also for the second consecutive game.
“Nobody's invincible,” Holmberg said. “We won the ballgame early and they won the ballgame late.”
With two men on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, first baseman David Cooper hit into the second double play of the night to end the game.
“That's going to happen,” Holmberg said. “He's got a good swing though - he'll continue to make adjustments.”
Notes: Liverpool native Jimmy Dougher was one of three Doubledays' pitchers that were called up to Class A Lansing after the game, Dougher appeared in two games (4 2-3 innings), allowed two hits, no runs and fanned five batters. ...Amar was a triple away from hitting for the cycle, he grounded out to first base in his final at bat in the seventh. ...Auburn's five errors in the last two games are more than the previous seven contests combined. ...There were five double plays turned in the game overall, Auburn's defense had three of them. ...Wilfredo Ramirez got the win for the Scrappers, pitching the final two innings. ...With one more stolen base by Chris Demons in the seventh, the Doubledays lead the New York-Penn League with 13 overall this season.
Scrappers 6
Doubledays 4
D-days Today
Record: 6-3
Standings: First place, .5-game lead
Next: vs. State College, 7 p.m.
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