Renegades fall just short of comeback in 7-5 defeat

Wappingers Falls, N.Y. (June 27, 2024) — A furious Hudson Valley Renegades comeback came up just short on Thursday night, as the Wilmington Blue Rocks held on for a 7-5 victory in their first win of the series.

Jeremy De La Rosa led off the game with a solo home run off Kyle Carr in the first to put the Blue Rocks in front 1-0.

Carr (0-4) settled in nicely after allowing two hits including the home run in the first inning. Carr went 5.1 innings while being charged with just two earned runs. The left-hander only allowed two hits after the first inning. This game marked the third consecutive start at home where Carr went at least five innings and allowed three earned runs or fewer.

Kevin Made doubled in the sixth off Carr and reached third on a wild pitch by Cole Ayers. He scored on an RBI groundout by Jared McKenzie to make it 2-0 Wilmington.

The Renegades had trouble generating a rally against Blue Rocks starter Jose Atencio, and were hurt by three inning-ending double plays through six innings. Hudson Valley loaded the bases in the seventh while trailing 2-0, but Christopher Familia lined out to second to end the inning.

The Blue Rocks added five runs in the eighth on three home runs. Viandel Pena doubled off Matt Keating to lead off the inning, and Kevin Made then hit a home run to left to make it 4-0. Joe Naranjo doubled later in the frame, and Matt Suggs hit the second two-run homer of the inning. T.J. White made it back-to-back long balls with a solo shot to right, making it 7-0 Blue Rocks.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Renegades brought ten batters to the plate and drove home five runs. Brenny Escanio doubled to lead off the frame against Mario Gomez and scored on a Roc Riggio RBI double to get the Renegades on the board. With the double, Riggio extended his on-base streak to 16 games.

Jared Serna singled, before Jace Avina’s base knock brought home Riggio to make it 7-2 and Omar Martinez walked to load the bases. A Josh Moylan double to center scored Serna and Avina, cutting the deficit to 7-4. Antonio Gomez hit a sacrifice fly in the ensuing at-bat to score Martinez and make it 7-5.

Matt Cronin came in to record the final two outs of the eighth and retired the Renegades 1-2-3 in the ninth to earn the save.

The Renegades will return to action on Friday night at 6:35 p.m. at Heritage Financial Park, with the Heritage Financial Credit Union Pregame Show beginning at 6:15 on the Renegades Baseball Network. LHP Ben Shields (2-2, 3.06) will start for Hudson Valley, while RHP Luke Young (2-7, 4.13) will begin for the Blue Rocks.