Baysox Notebook: Pitching Off to Stellar Start, Batting Trying to Get into Swing of Things

As Bowie closer Jose Diaz took the mound to start the bottom of the ninth inning during , Diaz and the Baysox stood just three outs away from closing the weekend with consecutive wins.

But three errors and two Senators runs later and the Baysox left Harrisburg with a frustrating 4-3 loss, and are now just 1-2 heading into Monday’s road matchup with Richmond.

The loss squandered a stellar outing from Bowie starter Rick Zagone, who tossed five shutout innings, during which he yielded just two hits.

Zagone left the game with a 2-0 lead, but Harrisburg tied the score with RBI singles from Tim Pahuta and Jonathan Tucker in the bottom of the eight inning, both of which came with two outs.

First baseman Billy Rowell’s RBI groundout gave the Baysox the lead back in the top of the ninth before three straight Harrisburg batters reached on errors to start the bottom half of the inning and Adam Fox and Archie Gilbert cashed in with the
game-tying single and game-winning single, respectively.

Bowie beat the after falling to them, 5-0, in .

Baysox starter Chorye Spoone (0-1) struggled Thursday, surrendering three earned runs, three hits and five walks in just three innings of work, although he did record three strikeouts.

Steve Johnson, however, followed with a very solid start Saturday, allowing just one hit during four scoreless innings. He yielded four walks, but registered five strikeouts. Eddie Gamboa (1-0), Raul Rivera, Brandon Cooney, Pedro Viola and Diaz followed Johnson to combine for five innings of scoreless relief.

OFFENSE STRUGGLING

While Bowie’s pitching has been stellar thus far, the Baysox’s bats are still trying to find their rhythm early in the season.

Bowie scored just five total runs during its three-game series with Harrisburg while going just 19-of-95 (.200 average) at the plate. They also struck out 32 times during the series while drawing only 11 walks.

Aside from Pedro Florimon (.427) and Robbie Widlansky (.273), the Baysox don’t have another player hitting above .250.

UP NEXT

Bowie (1-2) travels to Richmond (2-2) Monday for the start of a three-game series before coming home for Thursday’s home opener against Erie.

Richmond—the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants—finished last season just 68-73, and in second to last place in the Eastern League’s Western Division, but this year’s roster boats eight players rated among the top-30 prospects in the Giants’ system by Baseball America.

Second baseman Charlie Culberson, San Francisco’s sixth-rated prospect, hit .290 with 16 home runs and 71 RBI for Single-A San Jose last season. Culberson, a first-round pick (51st overall) in 2007, also tallied 25 stolen bases. He was 6-of-17 (.353) with two doubles in the Flying Squirrels’ opening series against New Britain.

Catcher Johnny Monell, the Giants’ 28th-rated prospect, has driven in a team-best three RBI for Richmond thus far.