Blue Crabs lose two of three to New Britain
Lose series with two extra-inning defeats
Two starting pitchers each throwing nine innings doesn’t happen often in baseball. But it was the case Sunday at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf.
Daryl Thompson of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, a 2003 La Plata High School graduate, and New Britain’s Kyle Simon threw those nine full innings, but ended up having to turn things over to their respective bullpens for extra innings as their pitching had limited both offenses to just two runs apiece.
After a scoreless 10th, New Britain broke the deadlock with three runs in the 11th to secure a 5-2 win and take the threegame series. It was the fifth consecutive extra-inning win for the Bees.
After dropping Friday’s series opener 7-3 in 10 innings, the Blue Crabs responded Saturday with a 7-2 victory.
Southern Maryland (22-21 overall; second place in Atlantic League’s Freedom Division, 2 1/2 games behind Lancaster through Monday) was off Monday and kicked off the first of another three-game homestand versus York on Tuesday. Game 2 is scheduled for 6:35 tonight. The series finishes at 6:35 p.m. Thursday, then the team heads to Texas for a six-game road trip versus Sugar Land.
Jesse Beal pitched a perfect 10th in relief of Thompson on Sunday, then Britt Robertshaw took over in the 11th and got into trouble.
Robertshaw hit Jake McGuiggan with a pitch to load the bases with one out. Conor Bierfeldt then hit a two-run single to left field to make it 4-2.
With two outs, Robertshaw walked Jon Griffin to load the bases. Then, a 3-ball, 2-strike pitch to Craig Maddox missed outside to walk in McGuiggan and it was 5-2, spelling the end of Robertshaw’s outing.
Robertshaw, who got credit for the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season, was replaced David Russo, who struck out the next batter, Yusuke Kajimoto, to end the inning. The damage had been done, however, as New Britain closer Joe Beimel worked a scoreless bottom of the 11th for his sixth save.
“The starting pitching was great. We just have to score runs, plain and simple,” Blue Crabs manager John Harris said. “We have to continue to play solid baseball and make plays.”
Luis Alen got on base on a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the eighth for the Blue Crabs. Alen advanced to second on a wild pitch, but an attempted sacrifice bunt from Jose Lozada did not bode well, forcing Alen out at third.
Lozada then stole second with Edwin Garcia batting, turned to third when the pitch got away from New Britain catcher James Skelton.
Skelton chased the ball down
towards the visiting on-deck circle, and fired it to third just in time to get Lozada for the second out in the inning. Garcia then flew out to end the inning.
“We were just making aggressive plays. We just have to lay bunts down a little better, but it is baseball,” Harris said.
Thompson walked Skelton to start the game. Two batters later with one out, Jovan Rosa doubled to left, putting Skelton at third. Bierfeldt drove in Skelton on a sacrifice fly to right for the first run of the game.
The Blue Crabs got on the board in the bottom of the second as Devon Rodriguez tied the game on a two-out solo homer. After Zach Cone’s double, Patrick Palmeiro hit a single off the left-field wall, scoring Cone to make it 2-1.
The Bees tied the game at 2 with a solo home run by Michael Crouse in the third. Thompson then retired 20 of the final 21 batters he faced following the Crouse homer, including the last 12 in a row.
Thompson, who pitched a no-decision after his nine innings of work, struck out 10 batters in the game and allowed just two runs on four hits with one walk. Simon also went nine innings and gave up two runs on six hits with two strikeouts.
“It was crazy for me to go nine innings and I wanted to just help my team stay in the game by any means necessary,” said Thompson, who threw 118 pitches, 85 for strikes. “The other starter did a hell of a job. It was a pitchers’ duel and we fell a little short, but we played hard to the end.”
Saturday, the Blue Crabs took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a three-run homer by Zach Wilson, his eighth of the season, to put them ahead to stay. They scored two runs in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Palmeiro and a solo blast by Alen. In the eighth, Rodriguez delivered some insurance with a two-out, two-run double.
Blue Crabs starting pitcher Pat McCoy got his second win of the season, allowing just one run on two hits in 5 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts with two walks.
In Friday’s series opener, New Britain scored four runs in the 10th to come away with the win.
Palmeiro’s two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh put the Blue Crabs ahead 3-2, but Crouse’s leadoff homer in the eighth tied the game.
Cody Hebner got the loss for the Blue Crabs as he gave up four runs, three earned, on two hits with one walk and one strikeout in getting just two outs in the 10th.
Griffin led New Britain with three hits with two RBIs and three runs scored. Michael Snyder led the way for the Blue Crabs with three hits.
Neither starter factored into the decision as Blue Crabs pitcher Gaby Hernandez went
6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
On Thursday versus York, the Blue Crabs trailed 2-0 but got on the board in the seventh on Rodriguez’s leadoff homer and then scored four runs in the eighth, capped by Cone’s tworun double, to take the 5-2 lead.
Blue Crabs closer Cody Eppley gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth, but picked up his 12th save of the season as Southern Maryland won 5-3 and took the series.
Hebner picked up the win on the mound, pitching two-thirds of the sixth with one walk.
Lozada and Rodriguez led the Blue Crabs with three hits each.