Nick Rickles’ sac fly in the top of the 13th proved to be the difference in the game as the Bowie Baysox (31-35) dropped their eighth straight with an 8-7 loss to the Reading Fightin Phils (37-25) in 13 innings on Thursday night at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.
In the afore-mentioned top of the 13th, Mitch Walding drew a one-out walk, advanced to third on a single and scored on Rickles’ sac fly to give Reading the lead.
RHP Jefri Hernandez (4.2 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 2 BB, 3 K) was tagged with the loss for the Baysox and falls to 0-2 on the year. The 4.2 IP marks the longest outing for Hernandez since he went 5.1 IP with Casper (Rk.) on September 7, 2011.
LHP Austin Davis (3.0 IP, 2 H, 6 K) earned the win for the Fightin Phils with three shutout innings of relief to improve to 2-0 on the season.
This marks the first time that Bowie has dropped eight straight since April 24-May 2, 2010.
The Baysox tied the game with a run in the home half of the ninth as Stevie Wilkerson led off with a single, moved to third on a pair of groundouts and later scored on a bases-loaded walk issued to Erick Salcedo to tie things at seven apiece.
Reading had taken a 7-6 lead with five runs in the ninth as a Scott Kingery RBI double and Walding’s two-run single brought the Fightins within 6-5 before Angelo Mora’s RBI single tied the game and Rickles’ RBI single gave the visitors the lead for the time being.
The runs in the inning were charged to LHP Tim Berry (0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, K) and RHP Ryan Meisinger(0.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB).
The Baysox jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the second as Adam Brett Walker (5-6, 2 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R) reached with a one-out double, advanced to third on an Austin Wynns single and scored on an error charged to Reading LF Zachary Coppola.
The five hits is a new career-high for Walker.
In the home half of the third, Jay Gonzalez tripled to left and later scored on Wilkerson’s two-out RBI single.
Baysox starter Tanner Scott (n/d) gave up three hits while walking three and fanning a pair over three shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to 13.0 IP. The 13.0 IP is the longest scoreless streak by a Baysox pitcher this season.
Reading cut the lead to 2-1 with a run in the fifth when Andrew Pullin reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on a single and scored on Carlos Tocci’s two-out RBI single. The run was charged to RHP Scott McGough(3.0 IP, 3 H, R, ER, 2 K).
Walker’s solo shot off of Reading starter Brandon Leibrandt in the home half of the sixth gave the Baysox a 3-1 lead. The home run was Walker’s second in as many nights and his second of the season.
Leibrandt (n/d) gave up the three runs on nine hits to go along with two walks in six innings of work.
Jiandido Tromp drew a leadoff walk in the seventh and scored from first on Kingery’s RBI double to bring the Fightin Phils within 3-2. The run was charged to RHP Jason Garcia (2.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, BB, 2 K).
The Baysox quickly answered with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame to make it a 5-2 game. Wilkerson (2-4, 2 RBI, R) knocked home a run with an RBI groundout and Garabez Rosa (2-7, RBI) came through with an RBI single.
Salcedo (2-4, R) reached with a one-out single in the eighth and scored on Glynn Davis’ RBI double to stretch the Bowie lead to 6-2.
Cedric Mullins (2-5, R) also had a multi-hit game for the Baysox.
The Baysox will open a three-game set with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Prince George’s Stadium on Friday night. First pitch of the series opener is set for 7:05 p.m. as RHP Matthew Grimes (2-6, 4.63) will be on the bump for Bowie against New Hampshire LHP Shane Dawson (1-6, 5.43).
