LOWELL, Mass--Just a few days ago, the Lowell Spinners had lost 11-games in a row, tying a franchise record, and were about to play another game in hopes of not continuing the long skid. After a walk-off extra inning win last night the Spinners would not go infamously into the franchise record books and it seemingly took away the pressure of the team. With the pressure gone, fresh off a win, the Spinners bats came out to party Thursday night as Lowell put up 10-runs in route to a 10-1 rout of the visiting Mahoning Valley Scrappers.
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| William Cuevas threw 5.2 innings of shutout baseball Thursday night and collected the win in the Spinners rout of the Scrappers. |
Justin Haley, who started for the Spinners, got into minor trouble in the top of the first when he allowed two runners to reach base via the walk but later erased any Scrappers threat by retiring the side following a Aaron Siliga flyout.
Following an uneventful bottom half of the first frame, the Spinners finally put life into the evening when J.T. Watkins and Williams Jerez hit consecutive RBI doubles for the Spinners giving Lowell an early 2-0 lead after 2 innings.
Haley, who is on a regimented pitching plan having come directly from his college season, was relieved by William Cuevas with one out in the top of the second. Cuevas, who got the win in relief, went on to throw 5.2 scoreless innings allowing just three hits and striking out 10 batters—at one point striking out five Scrappers in a row. For obvious reasons, Cuevas was given Player of the Game honors for his stellar “piggy-back” performance.
The two runs the Spinners got in the second inning would turn out to be the only runs that the Baby Sox would need but that didn’t prevent them from putting on a show. In the bottom of the fourth inning, David Chester led off the frame with a no-doubt, solo home run over the left field fence at LeLacheur Park.
To close the game, the Spinners would score one run in the fifth, three runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh. The scoring was highlighted by another home run, this time off the bat of Matt Gedman who just barely hit a high fly ball over the right field fence for a two-run shot. With his second home run of the season, Chester’s bomb pushed the Spinners in front of the Brooklyn Cyclones to lead all New York-Penn League teams in home runs at 15. Although, ironically, Lowell and Brooklyn are tied for the worst team batting average in the league.
Unfortunately, the Scrappers did end the shutout bid in top of the eighth on an RBI double for center fielder Tyler Naquin off of Spinners reliever Braden Kapteyn.
With the win, the Spinners now find themselves at 7-17 but still living in the Stedler Division cellar sharing the space with the Connecticut Tigers who, after a Thursday night loss, also sit at 7-17.
The Spinners will go for the three-game sweep Friday night on Stephen King Bobble Head night at LeLacheur Park and if they do in fact “bring out the brooms” against the Scrappers, it would be Lowell’s first three-game sweep since the beginning of last season when they beat the Tri-City ValleyCats on consecutive days from June 29-July 1.
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