by Joseph Kuykendall
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| Aneury Tavarez (above) put in a solid day's work Saturday night going 3-for-3 with 2 singles as well as a HBP. |
BOSTON---Right away things got off to a shaky start for the
Spinners and it was basically downhill for them the rest of the way. On just
the second pitch of the game, Hudson Valley Renegades’ Joey Rickard hit a
rocket off the face of Spinners’ starter Brian Johnson sending him to the
ground and finally taken off the field on a stretcher. After that
“life-draining” play, the Spinners never really found their groove until it was
too late and lost 6-5 at the hands of the Renegades.
The confines of Fenway weren’t so friendly Saturday
afternoon to Red Sox 2012 First Round pick Brian Johnson. As mentioned before, on
just his second pitch thrown in the shadows of the Green Monster, a liner off
the bat of Hudson Valley center fielder nicked Johnson right below his left eye
sending Johnson to the ground while struggling to throw the glove off of his
right hand to hold the area he was hit. Johnson never lost consciousness and
never bled but was visibly in pain. It has been confirmed that Johnson suffered
multiple fractures to the orbital bone on the left side of his face and never
lost consciousness. He is resting comfortably at the hospital.
Despite the scary situation, the game would have to go on.
Jacob Dahlstrand, who was set to piggy-back Johnson after two innings or so
anyway, came on to relive the injured Johnson. He would make it out of the
first inning unscathed but after that is when he began to fall apart.
Both the Spinners and the Renegades would send just three
men to the plate in the first inning but in the second is when Hudson Valley blew
the door wide open. Dahlstrand allowed the first two ‘Gades to reach base
without a hit (hit-by-pitch and walk, respectively). Two batters later, Joel
Caminero would double in the two runners on base to get a quick 2-0 lead for
the visiting team. The very next batter, Jake DePew singled in Caminero to
score the third and final run of the inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Spinners got one run
back after Rhode Island-native Zach Kapstein plated David Chester with an RBI
single. This would be the Spinners last run until they made one final run at
the lead in the ninth inning.
The Renegades must’ve figured Dahlstrand out as he would
allow single runs in both the third and fourth inning before his removal at the
end of the fourth inning.
After a quiet fifth inning on both sides, DePew continued to
shell the Spinners pitching knocking a solo home run just over the Green
Monster to push the Hudson Valley lead to 6-1. This time it was off of a Gerardo
Olivares pitch who is relatively new to the Spinners roster (made Spinners
debut 8/10). The home run put DePew a triple shy of the cycle at the time
although he would never get the triple needed.
The two teams would combine for just two hits in the seventh
and eighth inning keeping the ‘Gades lead at 6-1 as things headed into the
ninth inning.
Jadd Schmeltzer pitched a scoreless top of the ninth to
limit the size of the comeback Lowell would have to make in the bottom half of
the frame.
The Spinners made a valiant attempt at a comeback only to come
up one-run short. Despite the first batter of the inning being retired, the
Spinners got the next four consecutive batters in the inning to reach via a
triple, walk, double, and error, respectively. After Kapstein grounded out for
the second out in the inning, catcher Roberto Reyes hit a nub-shot down the
third base line to reach first safely and score Matty Johnson (who reached on
the error). Johnson was the fifth and final Spinners run as the batter following Perez (Mike
Miller) grounded out to the second baseman to stop the magic for the Spinners.
With the loss, it is the Spinners second loss in a row at
Futures at Fenway (last appearance was 2010) after starting out 3-0 in their
first three appearances in the event. This is the third time the Spinners and
Renegades have squared-off in the event (2007 and 2008) and the first time the
Renegades have won in their battle. Lowell is now 28-30 on the season and, much
like the Red Sox, can’t seem to make it back to .500. They have been impressive
of late though, as the Spinners haven’t had a losing streak of two or more
games since they lost four-in-a-row July 18-21.
The two teams continue their three game series tomorrow
afternoon with a 1:05 first pitch in the second game of the series, this time
at LeLacheur Park.
Kuykendall can be followed on Twitter @JoeKBSU18 and contacted at
JKuykendall@BostonSportsU18.com
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