ValleyCats fall to Muckdogs 4-1, swept for fourth time this season
The Tri-City ValleyCats were unable to stop an offensive spark in the top of the fifth from the Batavia Muckdogs Thursday afternoon. The Muckdogs finished up the mid-week series sweep of the ‘Cats with a 4-1 victory at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, extending Tri-City’s losing streak to five.
“We’re not hitting the ball,” said ValleyCats manager Ozney Guillen on the struggles the ValleyCats have seen as of late. “It’s a struggle. We’ve been doing that a lot this year and hopefully the last 4-5 weeks we have they get better.”
After dropping 1-0 and 6-4 decisions to begin the series, the ValleyCats (16-28) used four scoreless innings from starter Kyle Serrano and left-hander Juan Pablo Lopez (2-4) to take the game into the fifth with a scoreless tie.
Taking the mound for his third inning of relief, Lopez than came unraveled, as the Muckdogs (2818) sent 10 the the plate in the home half of the inning, plating four runs off five hits thanks to the first four batters of the frame reaching on a knock.
“I think he might have gotten tired,” said Guillen of Lopez. “He had a lot of deep counts. Credit to them for getting base hits into the gaps so you have to give credit to them.”
Lopez would be pulled after striking out and walking three
batters each in 3.2 innings on the mound, giving way for another spectacular performance from Valente Bellozo. The right hander finished off the game with 4.2 innings of two-hit ball, registering five strikeouts in the process and retiring nine in a row at one point.
“He’s been doing it all year, even since extended,” said Guillen on Bellozo. “He’s 19 years old and he is a battler. He’s a great talent. He doesn’t look like much on the mound, not being very big, but he has the heart of a lion and you see that every time he pitches.”
The defensive push would come both ways, however, with Batavia starter Edgar Martinez (2-2) picking up the win in five one-hit innings to begin the game, striking out seven and walking a pair.
The only run of the contest for the ‘Cats would come in the bottom of the sixth, with C.J. Stubbs sending home Luis Guerrero on an RBI single.
The final 10 batters of the game were downed in order for the ‘Cats offensively, with right-hander Joey Steele striking out the side in order in the eighth and Josh Simpson earning his second save off a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.
The ‘Cats sit in last place of the Stedler Division and are in the basement of the New York-Penn league, with only the Williamsport Crosscutters below them.
The ValleyCats have not had a winning record all season. Just 6-9 at the end of the June, they have been only able to add ten wins through the month of July.
“They got to their own heads,” said Guillen on why things have not started rolling for the ValleyCats. “They lost focus in that series with Brooklyn for some reason, then it’s back to stage one. We are back to the beginning halfway through the year, it’s tough. It’s hard to win games when you are trying to develop guys, so hopefully we are just developing them. A couple of guys have gotten better.
Following the loss, the ‘Cats wrap up a six-game home stand with a 1-5 mark, and will take to the road this weekend for a threegame series at the Auburn Doubledays. Tri-City will return home next Monday to begin a mid-week tilt against division Rival Lowell, with first pitch set for 7:00 p.m. on August 5th.
“They have got to be worried about themselves. They can’t worry about the other team and what they are doing,” said Guillen on how the ValleyCats can turn things around on the road. “Inconsistency has been killing us all year. Yesterday we stole seven bags, today we couldn’t get a hit, we couldn’t get a guy on base. It’s just inconsistency. We have to realize you play everyday and I think that’s what our team is struggling with.”