The Bowie Baysox and Binghamton Rumble Ponies split a doubleheader in front of 2,388 at Prince George’s Stadium on a rainy Tuesday night.
GAME 1: Baysox 9, Rumble Ponies 3
After Monday night’s contest was suspended due to rain, the Baysox and Rumble Ponies continued their pitcher’s duel through the first four innings.
Binghamton (47-53) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top half of the fifth inning, but Bowie responded right back with a three-spot of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Aderlin Rodriguez took the first pitch of his second at-bat against RHP Kevin McGowan deep over the left field wall for his 15th home run of the season, scoring Ryan Mountcastle.
Martin Cervenka tied the game two batters later for the Baysox (46-54), sending his 12th long ball of 2018 to left field. The home run marked the seventh of the month for the backstop, who is now hitting .340 in July.
The hosts busted the game open with a six-run sixth inning. After the first three batters reached to load the bases and knock McGowan from the game, Rodriguez grounded the first pitch from RHP Joe Zanghi into left field, plating Corban Joseph.
One batter later, Anderson Feliz cracked the box score by lining a single to center field off Zanghi’s glove, scoring Yusniel Diaz Mountcastle. Cervenka added his third RBI of the game on a flare to right field, while Erick Salcedo grounded a RBI single of his own to right field. Joseph concluded the scoring by lifting a sacrifice to center field, completing the six-run and 11-batter inning.
Meanwhile, LHP Brian Gonzalez–who took over for LHP Luis Ysla when play resumed–aided the Baysox bullpen by holding Binghamton to three earned runs on five hits over the remaining seven innings. After a Will Toffey home run in the fifth inning, Gonzalez retired 13 of the final 15 batters to earn his third Double-A win of the season.
GAME 2: Rumble Ponies 7, Baysox 3
For the second straight game, the Rumble Ponies jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the Baysox (46-55) once again responded two batters into the ensuing at-bats. Anderson Feliz launched his seventh home run of the year to left field. The opposite field long ball drove in Ryan Mountcastle and cut the deficit to 3-2 after two innings.
Binghamton (48-53) scored four unanswered runs to extend their lead to 7-2, but Feliz helped Bowie battle back in the fifth inning. The right fielder grounded a RBI single to right field for his third RBI of the game to pull the Baysox within four. The three RBI tied a season high for Feliz, having driven in a trio of runs July 4 against Harrisburg.
The back end of the bullpen shined on the mound, with Tanner Chleborad and Zach Pop combined to keep the Ponies scoreless over the final 3.2 innings. Chleborad retired all five batters he faced, while Pop bounced back from a tough Double-A debut and struck out three of his six batters faced, retiring the other three on soft grounders.
