Thunder settle for three of four against Bowie
Trenton >> The Thunder may have taken three of four from Bowie, but the home team’s pitching staff is sure glad to see Cedric Mullins leave town.
The No. 6 prospect in the Orioles system went 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs to help the Baysox avoid a sweep and beat the Thunder, 10-5, at Arm & Hammer Park on Sunday afternoon.
Mullins finished the fourgame set 8-for-18.
“There’s some things he does really well and he can run a little bit, but just didn’t have a chance because we had the lead so often,” Thunder manager Jay Bell said. “They’ve got some guys that can beat you so you have to make sure you’re on top of your game.”
Michael King took the promoted Erik Swanson’s place in the rotation and allowed five runs on 10 hits in his Double-A debut.
Given a 3-0 lead after a Gosuke Katoh homer in the first and a pair of two-out runs in the fourth, King ran into trouble the third time through the order when Mullins smacked a two-run homer that sparked a fiverun frame.
“The higher up you go, the tougher it is to maneuver through that third time,” Bell said. “With his stuff, I believe he’s capable of doing it. You hate the fact that he gave up the five spot, but I’m really excited about having him here.”
Chris Gittens tied the game at 5-all with a tworun shot to left in the home fifth, but the ineffective bullpen tandem of Andrew Schwaab and Kaleb Ort allowed Bowie to plate five runs in the eighth.
Ademar Rifaela, Mullins and Anthony Santander all had RBI doubles.