One day after Lakewood’s best offensive performance of the season, the bats fell silent, managing just three hits in a 7-2 loss to Delmarva on Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Park.
Shorebirds avoid sweep in series finale
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – One day after Lakewood’s best offensive performance of the season, the bats fell silent, managing just three hits in a 7-2 loss to Delmarva on Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Park.
Shorebirds starter John Mariotti (2-1) did not let a ball out of the infield in seven innings on the hill, limiting the BlueClaws to one hit. He retired 13 hitters on groundouts, one on a lineout and also got seven strikeouts.
Matt Rizzotti managed the only hit against Mariotti, an infield hit that ricocheted off the glove of second baseman Pedro Silveren. He also walked one hitter and saw Dominic Brown reach on an error.
Mariotti’s domination came just one day after the BlueClaws biggest offensive output of the season—nine runs on 14 hits on Saturday afternoon. The three hits on Sunday matched a season-low.
The ‘Claws did strike for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, thanks to RBIs from Michael Taylor and Mike Durant. Taylor’s base hit kept his home hitting streak alive at 12. Taylor has also hit safely in 16 of 17 BlueClaws games this season.
Julian Sampson (1-1) took the loss for the BlueClaws (7-10), giving up three earned runs in five innings. The 19-year old limited the ‘Birds to one run over the first five, but gave up two straight hits to open the seventh inning, before being removed without recording an out.
Chris Kissock allowed both inherited runners to score and allowed three runs of his own in the decisive sixth inning.
Tyler Henson hit his second home run of the series in the first inning for Delmarva (9-8), taking Sampson deep to leftfield to give the Shorebirds a 1-0 advantage.
Henson, Anthony Martinez, Matt Tucker and Brendan Monaghan all had multi-hit games for Delmarva.
Lakewood takes to the road on Monday, when they will face the Hagerstown Suns at 6:35 p.m. at Municipal Stadium. The BlueClaws will play three in Hagerstown before taking on Lexington for four games. They return to FirstEnergy Park on April 29 to begin a series with the Kannapolis Intimidators.