‘Cats lose series finale to Vermont

BURLINGTON, VT  — The Tri-City ValleyCats received plenty of power, but not enough runs, as they fell 11-3 to the Vermont Lake Monsters. Wyatt Marks (1-0) picked up his first win of the year in relief of starter Parker Dunshee, while Carlos Hiraldo (0-4) suffered the loss.

The Lake Monsters got to Carlos Hiraldo quickly, driving him out of the game after just two innings of work. Logan Farrar opened the scoring with an RBI single, and Will Toffey added two more on an RBI double to make it 3-0. Payton Squier ended the inning with a two run single to make it 5-0, but the Lake Monsters added another run in the second on a Carlos Hiraldo wild pitch to make it 6-0.

Jordan Devencenzi would add another run for the Lake Monsters in the sixth inning on an RBI single, but Adrian Tovalin responded in the seventh inning and picked up yet another home run, his third in two games with the ‘Cats to make it 7-1.

Any hopes for a ‘Cats comeback were squashed in the seventh, thanks to another RBI double by Will Toffey and a two run double by Jesus Lage to make it 10-1. Ryan Gridley would add an RBI single for good measure to make it 11-1.

The ‘Cats did see plenty of power from their lineup, with Abraham Toro-Hernandez recording a solo home run in the ninth, followed up by Michael Papierski hitting his first professional home run to make it 11-3.

However, the ‘Cats managed just one extra base hit from their lineup and couldn’t solve starter Parker Dunshee, who went four innings, allowing one hit while striking out six.

The Lake Monsters did most of their damage early against Hiraldo, but also recorded five runs off Tyler Ivey, who went three innings of relief after Luis Ramirez pitched two scoreless innings. Diogenes Almengo picked up a scoreless inning of relief after Ivey while the game was already out of reach.

The ‘Cats will now observe a league-wide off day before welcoming the Staten Island Yankees to town for a three-game set beginning on Thursday.

-Alex McKeon/ValleyCats media