The Bowie Baysox had their four-game winning streak snapped on Saturday night, falling in an 8-6 thriller with the Akron RubberDucks. The night had its action split between two halves, as 13 of the 14 total runs were scored after the fourth inning. Bringing back their power, the Baysox hit three more home runs in the game, including Gunnar Henderson’s second home run in as many nights.
The momentum carried by Bowie from their four-game winning streak was immediately halted by Akron’s Daniel Espino. The top pitching prospect in the Guardians organization struck out a near-incomprehensible 11 batters to start the game, routinely hitting triple digits on the Prince George’s Stadium radar gun, and ending nine of the at-bats with a swinging strike. For comparison, Aaron Nola and Tom Seaver hold the Major League Baseball record for consecutive strikeouts at any point in a game with ten.
Espino’s unthinkable start came to a halt in an equally unthinkable way in the fourth inning when Gunnar Henderson demolished a curveball over the right-center field wall. A line drive with an exit velocity of 108 MPH, it was Henderson’s second home run in as many days and gave Bowie the 1-0 lead. Espino (W, 1-0) recovered to strike out the next three batters before giving up a double to Dylan Harris and an RBI single to Cody Roberts, giving Bowie a 2-1 lead after a brief Akron tie. When Espino worked a ground out to the mound to end the fifth, he completed his outing with a career-high 14 strikeouts, and his name was involved in all 15 outs recorded to that point.
Bowie got an equally stellar start from left-hander Antonio Velez, albeit through contact instead of strikeouts. After Bowie had taken the 1-0 lead, Velez allowed a leadoff triple to Bo Naylor and a single to Micah Pries to tie the game at one, but the notable stat at the end of the inning was Velez’s pitch count. Bowie’s starter only needed 38 pitches for the five frames. After Bowie had taken the lead against Espino, Velez took the largest blow of the game in the sixth inning. Following a leadoff double, Velez surrendered an RBI single to George Valera to tie the game again. After another double, Will Brennan lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to give Akron the lead, and Naylor crushed a two-run home run to left field to cap the four-run inning. Velez (L, 0-1) would not complete the sixth inning but did not allow any more damage, thanks to the relief of Easton Lucas.
Akron later scraped an unearned run against Lucas in the seventh inning, but the lead was inflated further in the ninth inning against Bowie’s Morgan Mcsweeney. Following a leadoff walk and a passed ball, Jose Tena doubles one insurance run home, and Brennan singled the next insurance run home in Tena.
Bowie continually chipped at the Akron lead but was continually held at bay. Following a scoreless outing by Manuel Alvarez, Cody Roberts lofted a two-run home run to right field, his first of the year to make it a 6-4 game. After Akron had extended the lead to 8-4 in the ninth, Bowie made one last try at a comeback in the ninth when Dylan Harris took Jake Miednik deep for his second home run of the season. After a walk chased Miednik from the game, Jordan Westburg would represent the tying run when he stepped to the plate against Jerson Ramirez. Ramirez won the battle, however, forcing a pop out from Westburg to end the night.
Bowie will not lose any ground in the Southwest Division standings thanks to a Harrisburg loss, as they fall to 8-5. The two sides will play the finale of the six-game series on Sunday afternoon at Prince George’s Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
Order your 2022 Baysox tickets online or call 301-464-4865 to purchase over the phone.
