Keegan Akin shined through seven innings and the offense came through with some timely two-out hitting to help the Bowie Baysox earn a 4-3 victory and a series win over the Akron RubberDucks in front of 3,509 at Canal Park Thursday afternoon.
Making his second start of the road trip to Harrisburg and Akron, Akin threw his 12th quality start of 2018 to earn his Eastern League-leading 11th win. The lefty shut down a potent RubberDuck offense in seven innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits while striking out nine batters. Thursday marked the fourth time in 20 starts where Akin has sat down nine or more batters via the strikeout. His 116 punchouts also place him atop the league standings in that category.
Bowie (50-58) jumped out to a first-inning lead for the second straight contest. A pair of walks set the table for Yusniel Diaz, who lined a two-out single to center field for his second RBI within the Baltimore organization. Corban Joseph scored and the visitors quickly had a 1-0 lead.
Sam Haggerty lifted a second-inning solo home run to tie the game at one apiece for Akron (65-45), but the Baysox responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning. With one out, Ademar Rifaela grounded a RBI single to right field to score Diaz, while Martin Cervenka capped a stretch of four straight hits off Akron strarter Aaron Civale with a RBI single to right field to plate Anderson Feliz and extend the lead to 3-1.
The Ducks continued to chip away at the Bowie lead with a run in the fifth inning, but Ryan McKenna re-extended the Baysox advantage to 4-2. A line-drive single to center field drove in Erick Salcedo—who doubled with two outs in the seventh inning. Akron pulled within a run for a second time on a ninth-inning solo home run, but the defense nailed down the final out with the game-winning run at the plate to secure the series victory.
The Baysox return home tomorrow night at 7:05 pm. ET for the first of three games against the Reading Fightin’ Phils, Double-A Affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. RHP Dean Kremer makes his second start at Prince George’s Stadium since joining the Orioles as part of a five-player package in exchange for Manny Machado. Friday night is also the annual Navy Night celebration, where the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 2022 will be on hand to help celebrate all current and former members of the Navy.
