Roberts And Rodriguez (And Six Errors) Help Scrappers Win
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers used the momentum of a ninth inning comeback one night earlier to win their second in a row, a 6-1 conquest of struggling Hudson Valley. With the win the Scrappers improved to 22-28, inching closer to the .500 mark. Hudson Valley tallied six errors to help the Scrappers come away with a win.
Dace Kime (bottom photo) got a plethora of run support that the Scrappers have failed to give starting pitchers all year.
Hudson Valley hit the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Ariel Soriano doubled down the left field line to start the game. He would score later in the inning on a single off the bat of Darryl George.
In the bottom of the first, the Scrappers responded with three runs of their own. Joel Mejia reached safely on a throwing error. Mejia stole second and then advanced to third when Hudsn Valley’s catcher, Omar Narvaez, threw the ball away on the steal attempt. Mejia would score the Scrappers first run on a clean single from James Roberts.
Nellie Rodriguez then followed the Roberts single with his own one-bagger to put runners on first and second. Roberts and Rodriguez both scored when Friday’s hero, Paul Hendrix, tripled to make it 3-1 in favor of Mahoning Valley.
The Scrappers would take a 4-1 lead when they tacked on a run in the fourth. Cody Ferrell singled with two outs. Ferrell advanced to second on a fielding error, the fifth of the game for the Renegades. Mejia then knocked in Ferrell with a single.
The Mahoning Valley offense continued to produce in the bottom of the seventh inning. Roberts and Rodriguez both had RBI singles for the Scrappers.
Kime picked up his first win of the season despite having a decent 2.87 ERA coming into the game. Kyle Blair and Trevor Frank pitched solidly in relief. All three Scrapper pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts.
The Scrappers and Renegades play one more game on Sunday to close out the series.