Three home runs fueled the offense en route to an 8-4 Bowie Baysox win over the Akron RubberDucks in front of 2,018 at Prince George’s Stadium Tuesday night.
Aderlin Rodriguez got the Baysox (34-42) off on the right foot during their first bats with some two-out thunder. After Corban Joseph singled and Ryan Mountcastle walked to keep the inning alive, Rodriguez sent a towering three-run shot to the woods down the left field line. The eighth long ball of the season for the first baseman gave the hosts a quick 3-0 lead.
The Ducks (43-34) chipped away in the following innings to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Baysox LHP Keegan Akin settled down to minimize the damage. With two on in the third inning, Akin caught Ka’ai Tom looking and sat down the side in order in the fourth, headlined by his fifth strikeout of the night when Haggerty whiffed at a ball in the dirt.
Bowie added some insurance one batter into the fifth inning. Audry Perez worked the count full, and then sent an inside pitch deep over the left field wall for his seventh home run of the season to extend the lead to 4-2.
The visitors answered with a run in the sixth, but Perez single-handedly kept the Baysox ahead. The fifth pitch of the night from reliever Rob Kaminsky landed halfway up the billboards in left field for the catcher’s second home run of the night and eighth of the season.
The Baysox tacked on three more in the bottom of the seventh. Kaminsky unleashed a wild pitch with the bases loaded to score Jaycob Brugman.
After Mountcastle walked to reload the bases, Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice, but Daniel Salters’ throw sailed into right field, allowing Joseph and Mountcastle to score and extending the lead to 8-3.
LHP Luis Gonzalez earned his second win of the season by allowing one earned run on one hit with three strikeouts over three innings. RHP Branden Kline nailed down the victory and bounced back from his previous outing with two innings of one-hit, one-run ball.
The Baysox look to take a series lead in game three of four Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. ET. RHP Lucas Long is slated to start for the Baysox, looking for his second win of the season during another edition of Orange Wednesday. All fans wearing Baysox or Orioles gear save $5 off box seats, while all military personnel who show proof of service get a box seat for half off.
