Niles, O.H. – Philles 2018 1st rounder, Alec Bohm, exited tonight’s 6-3 loss to Mahoning Valley, after being hit with a pitch in the left leg.
Williamsport picked up where they left off a night ago, jumping out to an early two-run lead in the top of the 1st against Scrappers starter Cameron Mingo.
Ben Pelletier got the scoring started, singling to deep center field, scoring Jonathan Guzman to give the Crosscutters an early 1-0 lead. For Pelletier, it was his 12th RBI of the season. Because the ball was nearly caught, Rafael Marchan was only able to advance to 2nd base on the long single.
After Marchan was caught trying to steal 3rd base, Ben Aklinski singled into center, chasing home Pelletier to make it a 2-0 lead in favor of Williamsport and give Aklinski his 8th RBI since joining the Crosscutters.
Mahoning Valley was able to scratch a run across in the bottom of the 1st inning against Cutters starter Gustavo Armas, using a two-out RBI double from Mitch Reeves to plate Jose Fermin to cut it to a 2-1 deficit.
Pelletier got the run back in a big way in the top of the 3rd inning, drilling a pay off pitch from Mingo well over the double wall in right field for his first round tripper of the season, giving Williamsport a 3-1 edge. It was the team-leading 13th RBI for Pelletier this season.
Armas settled in after the first inning, working shutout frames in the 2nd through 5th innings and looked to be on his way to earning his 2nd win of the season.
The Cutters right-hander retired the first batter of the 6th inning, running his streak to six consecutive batters retired, before giving up back-to-back singles to Richie Palacios and Mitch Reeves. With two aboard, Hosea Nelson turned on a Armas pitch, sending it over the right field wall for a go-ahead three-run home run to make it 4-3 Scrappers.
Armas was relieved after surrendering a two-out single and replaced by Jose Jimenez in the bottom of the 6th.
Jimenez gave up a RBI double to Simeon Lucas, scoring Clark Scolamiero to give Mahoning Valley a 5-3 lead, with all five runs charged to Armas, closing the book on the Williamsport starter.
Down two in the top of the 8th inning, the Crosscutter were looking to mount a come back effort against the Scrappers bullpen. Alec Bohm led off the inning, getting drilled in the left leg by a Randy Valladares pitch, sending Bohm to the dirt in obvious pain.
After being checked out by the training staff, Bohm was helped off the field by the training staff, putting little to no weight on the leg.
Matt Kroon took over for Bohm, and was stranded at 2nd base as the Cutters 8th inning rally efforts were nipped.
The Scrappers added a run in the bottom of the 8th inning against reliever Oscar Macelino, getting a RBI double from Scolamiero, plating Angel Lopez to advance the Mahoning Valley lead to 6-3.
Williamsport was able to get a pair of runners on base with two outs in the top of the 9th inning, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Marchan grounded out on a broken bat effort to end the threat and the ballgame.
The Crosscutters have tomorrow off, before welcoming in the Tri-City ValleyCats into BB&T Ballpark on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Cutter Carvings – Aklinski has recorded a hit and a RBI in each of the first four games he has played with Williamsport… Four of the Crosscutters nine home runs this season have come at Mahoning Valley…The Crosscutters concluded the road trip with a 2-4 record, picking up one win in West Virginia and Mahoning Valley…
