Spinners Score 5 In 9th, Beat ‘Cats

The ValleyCats have been in a slump of late, and in short-season a slump can mean death. Entering Saturday night, they were 4.5 games out of the wild card race. They looked to spark a late season push for the playoffs against the division leading Lowell Spinners.

But the offense was nowhere to be seen for Tri-City. After a Bryan De La Cruz single in the 3rd inning, the ValleyCats would go 5 innings without another hit. Daniel Zandova was lights out in his relief outing for Lowell. He went 6 innings allowing just 1 run on 3 hits. He picks up the win and improves to 5-2.

The pitching for Tri-City was stout. Starter Edgardo Sandoval pitched 5 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits. Makay Nelson would come on and pitch 2.2 innings of shutout ball, keeping Lowell scoreless through 8 innings.

In that 8th inning, Miguelangel Sierra made a costly mistake for the ValleyCats, bunt popping into a double play after the leadoff man got on. That’s just the way it has been going for Tri-City lately.

The game was still scoreless heading into the 9th inning, but it didn’t stay that way for long. C.J. Chatham hit his 3rd homer in 2 games to put Lowell on the board with a 2-0 lead. Things would only get worse, as the Spinners would total up 5 runs on 5 hits in the inning. All of those runs came with Angelo Serrano on the mound for the ValleyCats.

Alex DeGoti would homer in the 9th, but the outcome was set. Another tough loss for the ‘Cats, they drop game 2 by a final score of 5-1.

Like I said, there have been some tough losses, but the team has been competitive. “It’s important to stay competitive at all levels” said Lamarr Rogers after the game.

With Staten Island winning over Batavia, the ‘Cats are now 5.5 games out of the final playoff spot with 9 games remaining. Might be too big of a hill to climb.