The Valleycats snap three-game losing streak with a 9-2 win over the Renegades.
Offense breaks out of slumber for Tri-city in win over Renegades
Alex Mckenna’s first professional hit meant free tacos for some fans at Bruno Stadium on Saturday night.
Mckenna, the Houston Astros’ fourth-round draft pick, might owe teammate Trey Dawson dinner for his first pro RBI.
Dawson went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBIS and a pair of stolen bases as the Tri-city Valleycats snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-2 win over the Hudson Valley Renegades before 3,923 fans.
The Valleycats, who had six steals, improved to 8-7 heading into a three-game series at Vermont that starts Sunday.
“It was great, especially because I think this is probably our best complete game we’ve played so far this season,” Tricity manager Jason Bell said. “Especially running the bases. That’s a big thing that I believe in and we had a big meeting about it earlier today and it was cool to see it actually put to use.”
Mckenna, a center fielder from Cal Poly, made his Valleycats debut after signing with the Astros for a $430,000 bonus.
His first hit, a single to right in the fifth, was worth free food for an entire seating area because he was the designated player in a Taco Bell promotion.
“Yeah, I was told,” Mckenna said. “All my teammates were like, ‘No pressure, no pressure.’ It was cool. Definitely a cool day I’ll remember for a long time. I’m very happy about it.”
He drove in his first pro run with a sacrifice fly to shallow center in the sixth inning. Dawson, who was on third, took advantage of a lapse by Hudson Valley center fielder Michael Smith and dashed home to score for a 6-1 lead.
“I owe him dinner or something,” Mckenna said. “He kind of deked the center fielder, the center fielder kind of came up nonchalant and got me an RBI. I owe him something, I’m not sure what it is yet, but it’s something.”
It didn’t sound like Dawson planned to collect on Mckenna’s offer.
“He needs to thank the center fielder,” Dawson said. “He was being really lazy with it, so you’ve got to take advantage of it.”
Dawson said Bell’s pregame base running presentation was helpful.
“In college, we don’t go over all that stuff,” said Dawson, a 15th-round pick out of Kentucky. “He goes really in depth about all the statistics, so it’s nice to see that. They want us to be aggressive, so being aggressive, and that being OK, that’s good.”
Right fielder Gilbert Celestino added three hits and two RBIS and Michael Wielansky had a pair of hits for the Valleycats, who broke out of their offensive slumber after scoring only four runs combined during their three straight losses.
Tri-city scored four runs in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead, including Celestino’s tworun double to right-center off reliever Alan Strong.
Tri-city’s Felipe Tejada pitched five scoreless innings, the longest stint in a home start by a Valleycats pitcher since Chad Donato went six against Vermont on opening day. Tejada allowed three hits and struck out four.
After throwing 75 pitches, 42 strikes, Tejada gave way to the Tri-city bullpen, which played with fire.
Hudson Valley loaded the bases with none out in back-toback innings against Tri-city’s Shawn Dubin in the sixth and Juan Pablo Lopez in the seventh.
But the Renegades only managed to score a run in each frame to cut Tri-city’s lead to 6-2. Lopez relieved Dubin and got Hudson Valley’s Garrett Giovannelli to ground out to end the sixth. Then Lopez wriggled out of his own jam when he got Justin Bridgman to fly out to right to finish the seventh.
Dawson added a two-run double to center in the bottom of the seventh for his first professional RBI and an 8-2 lead.