It may have taken them 49 games, but the Batavia Muckdogs (21-28) have finally found the winning formula at home.
Coming into Wednesday night’s opening game of a three-game series against the Lowell Spinners (27-24), the Muckdogs had dropped the opening game in two of the last three series and each lost was not pretty. A 9-1 home loss back on Aug. 3 to State College and an 11-5 lost this past Sunday to Vermont, were outcomes Batavia was looking to avoid.
Batavia, just like it did in both games of the doubleheader on Tuesday, jumped out in front in the very first inning.
After Muckdogs starter, Dillon Peters worked a clean top half of the inning, Batavia plated two runs in the bottom half of the first.
Travis Brewster worked a one-out walk and moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt. All-Star Brad Haynal then doubled home Brewster to score the games first run. Haynal advanced to third on a passed ball and then scored when ball four to Roy Morales was too much for Spinners catcher, Austin Rei to handle, allowing Haynal to score and giving the Muckdogs a quick 2-0 lead.
“It’s always good when you can score early,” Manager Angel Espada said. “It puts pressure on the other team offensively, they have to score runs and manufacture things and it gives you a little bit of breathing room.”
The Muckdogs added a run to make it 3-0 in the fourth inning when Taylor Munden singled, moved to third on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and later scored when an Anfernee Seymour hard-hit ball went of the pitchers leg, allowing Munden to score and Seymour to end up at second.
“You start winning games and you start seeing your work pay off and your starting to believe,” Espada said.
Dillon Peters started on the mound for Batavia and continued right where Brett Lilek and Scott Squier left off on Tuesday. Peters went a solid five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, two walks and striking out two.
“You attack…they just give us a chance, first to compete and then a chance to win a game and that’s what you want from your pitching staff,” Espada said.
Ryley MacEachern relieved Peters after the fifth inning and while he did strikeout an impressive six batters in three innings, he also allowed two runs on three hits. The runs were the first allowed by a Batavia pitcher in 18 straight innings.
The Spinners were able to tie and take the lead in the seventh inning after Aneudis Peralta reached on an infield single. A bunt single by Jeremy Rivera put two runners on with no outs.
Chad De La Guerra cleared the bases with a standup triple to make the score 4-3. If this was earlier in the year, the Muckdogs would have gone into a hole and wouldn’t have recovered, but now we have this new and improved Muckdog team that believes they can win any game.
When asked what has been the difference between now and earlier in the season, Alex Fernandez had a pretty simple answer. “Wanting it more and playing more together as a team and we all have one goal now and that is to win,” he said.
Fernandez would play a big role in the Muckdogs come back attempt in the eighth inning.
Morales singled to start the inning and a sacrifice bunt by Yuniel Ramirez moved him to second, a pitch hit Erwin Almonte, setting up first and second with one out.
Munden then singled to score Morales, tying the game at 4-4. Fernandez, who came into the at-bat with three strikeouts already in the game, laced a 1-1 pitch into the outfield to score Almonte and take the lead for good.
“I just concentrated on getting my foot down early cause he [Trevor Kelley, the Spinners pitcher] had a lot of movement, he had good stuff so just focusing on getting my foot down,” Fernandez said. “Earlier in the game I was all over the place, so just simplifying the at-bat and everything worked out.”
Batavia would add an insurance run in the same inning after a Seymour walk and a Brewster groundout to score Munden made it 6-4.
Curt Britt pitched a clean ninth inning, giving the Muckdogs their third win in a row and seventh out of the last 10 games.
Munden finished the game 3-for-4 with two-runs scored and a RBI while Morales was 2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. MacEachern got the win on the mound to improve to 2-0 and Britt got his first save of the year.
“I wasn’t here in the beginning so I don’t know how it was, but since I got here it’s been very good,” Fernandez said.
Batavia will continue their three-game series against Lowell on Thursday, as they look to wrap up a seventh consecutive series win. First pitch will be at 7:05 p.m.
