Hagerstown, MD - The Hagerstown Suns dropped their fifth-straight in a 12-4 loss against the West Virginia Power Saturday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are now 1-8 in the second half and 28-49 on the season and will play the second game of a four-game series on Sunday
Hagerstown, MD - The Hagerstown Suns dropped their fifth-straight in a 12-4 loss against the West Virginia Power Saturday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are now 1-8 in the second half and 28-49 on the season and will play the second game of a four-game series on Sunday with a 2:05 PM first pitch.
The Power scored the first run of the game against Suns starter Tomas Alastre in the third inning. Jesse Medrano led off with a single up the middle and with one out came around to score when Oneil Cruz doubled to right-center field to give West Virginia the lead, 1-0, while Cruz moved to third on the throw. With two outs and runners at the corners, Cruz scored on a passed ball to make it a 2-0 lead.
The Power extended their lead in the fifth inning when Lolo Sanchez belted a one out double to left and moved to third on a single by Cruz to put runners at the corners with one out. After a hit by pitch to load the bases, Sanchez scored on a sacrifice fly to left field by Ben Bengston to increase the lead 3-0 while Cruz moved to third on the throw. With two outs Cruz scored on a single up the middle by Chris Sharpe to bring the score to 4-0 while Macias moved to second. Raul Siri doubled to left field to score Macias and Sharpe to make it 6-0. Siri scored on an infield single, extending the Power lead to 7-0.
Hagerstown scored two runs in the fifth inning against West Virginia starter Hunter Stratton. Kameron Esthay led off with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch, and then moved to third on an Oliver Ortiz double to put runners in scoring position with no outs. Armond Upshaw worked a walk to load the bases and with Yasel Antuna batting, Esthay scored on a passed ball to make it 7-1. On the same play, Ortiz was thrown out between third and home, but Upshaw made it safely to third during the play. Antuna walked to put runners at the corners with one out, chasing Stratton from the game. Drew Fischer entered from the bullpen with one out for the Power and Cole Freeman lined out to second and Upshaw scored on an errant throw from Siri to cut the lead to 7-2. Luis Garcia struck out to end the inning with Antuna on second base.
The Suns added to the run column in the sixth inning when Jake Scudder led off with a double, moved to third on a ground out, and then scored on a ground out by Alex Flores to make it 7-3. Hagerstown then worked back-to-back walks to put runners on first and second with two outs, but Upshaw flew out to right to end the inning and the threat.
West Virginia scored five runs in the seventh inning against the Suns reliever Phil Morse. The Power recorded six hits, four of which were consecutive and broke the game open to take a commanding 12-3 lead.
Hagerstown scored one run in the bottom half of the seventh when Antuna led off with a single to center and moved to second on a groundout by Freeman to first base. Antuna scored on a single by Garcia to right field to make it 12-4. Fischer retired the next two batters to end the inning.
Alastre (3-3) pitched five innings, gave up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, walked one and struck out two in a loss. Morse entered in the sixth and went two innings while allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits, issued one walk and struck out two batters. Jared Brasher threw two innings in relief and did not allow a run on one hit, one walk, and one strike out.
Notes: Garcia recorded his 23rd multi-hit game… The Suns end the month of June with a 10-15 record… Esthay recorded a Suns season-high for walks in a game with four… It is also a career high for Esthay… The loss Saturday night ties the longest losing streak on the year at five… Alastre tied his career high in hits allowed with eight… Hagerstown set a season high for walks in a game with nine, the previous high was eight walks on April 8 at Rome… Hagerstown will play the second game of the four-game series on Sunday afternoon… First pitch will be at 2:05 PM… It's Sunday Funday at the Muni… Kids Club members can play catch on the field pregame… All kids can run the bases following the game… The Suns will send RHP Kyle Johnston (1-2, 3.15 ERA) to the mound against Power RHP Cody Bolton (3-0, 1.03 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 1:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live" which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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