March 18, 2024
Annapolis, US 39 F

Sox Offense Sputters

Harrisburg Senators

Designated hitter Tyler Townsend homered for the third game in a row, but it wasn’t enough as the Baysox still fell 5-2 to the Harrisburg Senators in the series finale Sunday afternoon.

Townsend has been an offensive spark for the Baysox early in the season. He hit a home run Sunday afternoon; it was his third home run in as many games. He is responsible for six of the teams 11 runs this season and it is the second time in his career he has homered in three consecutive games. The first occurrence came between July 3 and July 10, 2011 with the Frederick Keys.

“I am seeing the ball good right now and I am getting good pitches that I can handle and I am putting good swings on them,” Townsend said. “I worked hard on getting stronger in the off-season. I’ve always hit for power, but I feel like there is a little something extra this year so hopefully I can keep it up.”

For the third game in a row, the Senators got on the board first in the top of the first inning. Facing left-handed starting pitcher Cole McCurry, Eury Perez drew a lead off walk before Jeff Kobernus singled to left field and moved Perez to second base. Perez moved to third base after a fly out by Rick Ankiel and he came home on a ground out by Michael Morse to give Harrisburg the early 1-0 lead.

The two Major League rehab players continued to terrorize the Baysox in the top of the third inning. McCurry issued two out walks to Kobernus and Ankiel and Morse followed with a double to center field that scored both runners and gave Harrisburg a 3-0 lead.

Townsend got the Baysox on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning when he hit a lead off home run to right field that made the score 3-1.

The Baysox cut the lead again in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Senators bullpen. Reliever Joe Testa started the inning and after recording one out, issued walks to Townsend and first baseman Brandon Waring. Testa was then replaced on the mound by Christian Garcia who proceeded to walk pinch hitter Robbie Widlansky to load the bases. Left fielder Antoan Richardson grounded into a force out at home for the second out, but with second baseman Jonathan Schoop batting, a wild pitch brought Waring home to make the score 3-2.

Harrisburg got their insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning against right-handed reliever Robert Hinton. Tim Pahuta drew a lead off walk and Sandy Leon hit a one out ground-rule double that put runners on second and third base. With two outs, Perez singled to left field and drove in two runs to extend the lead back to 5-2.

McCurry pitched five innings and allowed three runs on three hits while walking five batters and striking out four in the loss.

“The whole thing was I walked too many batters and you can’t do that,” McCurry said. “That’s the main key and I just walked too many guys – there were a couple hits here and there, but when you walk people it’s not good. I didn’t feel like I had trouble locating my pitches, all my pitches were working for me, I was picking at first instead of attacking the zone.”

Right-handed reliever Pat Egan pitched three scoreless innings in relief of McCurry, allowing two hits and striking out three batters. Hinton allowed two runs on two hits while striking out one batter and walking another in the ninth inning.

Bowie’s offense has been slow getting started early in the season. The Baysox have not scored before the fifth inning in any of their past three games while Harrisburg has been able to take a first inning lead in each of those games making it difficult for the Baysox to get back in the game. The Baysox have also struggled to get timely hits, scoring just one run on a wild pitch today despite having the bases loaded with one out.

“We just can’t get much going offensively,” Manager Gary Kendall said. “I can’t my foot on it – whether they are pressing, but we just aren’t putting any hits together and we aren’t getting any extra-base hits outside of a couple home runs. We haven’t done much with runners in scoring position when we’ve had those opportunities, but we are going to keep working on it.”

The Baysox first homestand of the year ends Wednesday, April 11. Before that day comes, the team has several fun activities planned including, a University of Maryland Terrapins Baseball team appearance Monday, April 9, Tailgate Tuesday April 10 and a day game starting at 11:05 a.m. Wednesday, April 11.

Baysox Baseball – We’ll Knock Your ‘Sox Off. The Baysox 20th season is underway.   Parking is free at every Baysox home game and tickets are now available at www.baysox.com, or by calling the Baysox box office at (301) 464-4865.

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