LAKEWOOD, NJ—Ryan Howard’s rehab stint in Lakewood drew 16,201 fans over two days, and though the 2006 NL MVP homered on Wednesday, he had no such magic on this night, going 0-3 with a walk as Hagerstown topped Lakewood 8-6.
8,138 saw Howard fly out to center, walk, strike out, and ground into a
4-6-3 double play in his final at-bat in the 7th inning. Howard came out to start the 8th at first base but was removed to a huge ovation for Doug Morales before the first pitch was thrown in the inning.
He now heads to Atlanta to re-join the Phillies on Friday.
While Howard controlled the attention of the adoring crowd, the Hagerstown bats stole the show, with Chris Marrero (11), who was 2-5 on the day and Leonard Davis (7) hitting back-to-back home runs in the 6th off of Edgar Garcia.
The Suns took the lead for good in the 3rd, when Marrero, a first round pick of the Nationals last year, doubled home Maxwell, who led off the inning with a double.
The BlueClaws scored 4 runs in the 9th inning on 5 hits. When Gus Milner singled to left to make it 8-6, Adrian Cardenas came to the plate as the winning run, but the regular second-baseman, pinch-hitting here, struck out against Josh Wilkie to end the game.