ValleyCats fall in second game of doubleheader with Spinners
TROY — After taking the first game in Monday evening’s doubleheader with the Lowell Spinners, the Tri-City ValleyCats were looking to continue their home winning streak of 4.
It seemed to take forever for either team to score, but finally in the top of the fourth we saw some action from the Lowell bats. The Spinners took a big first bite with 2 runs off a Bobby Dalbec single, putting them up by 2. As if that wasn’t enough, Tri-City would give up 4 more runs before the inning was over. Manager Lamarr Rogers couldn’t have summed up the 4th inning any better, “the wheels came off there”. As the dust settled heading into the 5th, the ValleyCats did so with a heavy 0 to the Spinners 6 run lead.
The ValleyCats came to life in the 5th, with Marcos Almonte scoring on a Rodrigo Ayarza triple to left. The next batter Ryan Birk, wouldn’t leave Ayarza at 3rd, hitting a homer. As we entered the 6th inning stretch, earlier due to doubleheader inning rules, the Spinners lead had been cut in half to just 3 (6-3).
In the top of the 7th the Spinners added an insurance run, putting them up 4 and very much in control of the ball game.
Wrapping up a long day on the field for both teams, the ValleyCats put an end to their 5 game home win streak by falling to the Spinners in the second game of the doubleheader, with a final score of 7 to 3.
Having split the doubleheader W 1-1, both teams will now play for the 3rd time in 24 hours today at 11:00am.
When asked about what it’s like to play 3 games in such a short period of time Ryan Birk said, “It’s tiring, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Tri-City catcher Chuckie Robinson couldn’t recall the last time he delivered a walk-off hit in his baseball career, but he earned his opportunity when he stepped to the plate with two runners on and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning in the first game of Monday’s doubleheader with Lowell.