Baysox Unravel In First Half Finale Loss To Curve

BOX SCORE

ALTOONA, PA – Despite five shutout frames from right-hander Alex Pham in his Double-A debut, the Bowie Baysox conceded five runs in the sixth inning to fall 8-4 in their series finale with the Altoona Curve on Sunday night at People’s Natural Gas Field.

Pham came out in a dominant fashion, only striking out three batters across his five frames, but allowing just two hits and walking only one batter. The right-hander fired 67 pitches – 45 of them for strikes.

Pham was backed by plenty of early offense for the Baysox, as Bowie plated a run in the first in a bizarre fashion. Coby Mayo drew a walk with one out, advancing to third on a John Rhodes single. However, after a hard round of first, Rhodes got caught in a rundown, allowing Mayo to score, but getting himself tagged out in the process.

Despite the baserunning mistake, the Baysox bats continued to attack right-handed starter Aaron Shortridge. In their second matchup against Shortridge this week, Bowie accumulated 12 hits in his five innings of work on Sunday. Zach Watson launched a solo home run down the left field line for his eighth of the season, and his second in as many games, to make it a 2-0 Baysox lead. A two-run single from TT Bowens doubled the Bowie advantage to 4-0 in the third.

However, in the sixth inning, the tide turned for the Baysox. Right-hander Jean Pinto entered on the mound for Bowie. A one-out walk to Ji Man Choi was followed by a fielding error from shortstop Anthony Servideo on a potential double-play ball. A walk to Abrahan Gutierrez then loaded the bases for Matt Gorski to deliver a two-run single to cut the Baysox lead in half at 4-2. Tsung-Che Cheng then grounded out to Bowens, who stepped on the first base bag for the second out of the inning before chasing Gorski into a rundown between first and second. However, Gorski was able to dash back into first safely, while Gutierrez jogged home to make it a one-run game.

Bowie had another opportunity to close out the inning on a ground ball back to the mound from Andres Alvarez. Pinto elected to try and throw to second for the force out of Cheng, but launched his throw into center field, allowing both runners to reach on the second Baysox error of the frame. Matt Frazier delivered the knockout punch with a two-run double into the right field corner, giving the Curve a 5-4 lead.

The Baysox had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh, but after leading off the inning reaching base via a hit by pitch, Rhodes was thrown out at home trying to score from third on a flyout to shallow right field. In total, Bowie ran into four outs on the base paths Sunday, while also hitting into a pair of double plays.

The Curve added insurance late, with Lolo Sanchez notching an RBI single and Mason Martin adding on a two-run home run in the eighth inning, before the Baysox went down quietly in the ninth.

The loss means Bowie finishes the first half with a record of 31-38 – last place in the Eastern League Southwest Division. After two off days, the Baysox will kick off the second half of 2023 with six scheduled contests at home against the Somerset Patriots. First pitch for Wednesday’s series opener is set for 6:35 p.m. ET from Prince George’s Stadium.