PONIES LOSE 6-3

RubberDucks Sink Sizzling Ponies, 6-3

BINGHAMTON, NY – The Akron RubberDucks scored the first four runs Monday night at NYSEG Stadium, edging the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, 6-3. Shao-Ching Chiang blanked Binghamton across five innings, while the Rumble Ponies left the bases loaded thrice. 

Akron’s wire-to-wire win started in the second inning with Taylor Murphy’s leadoff double, his first hit of the 2018 season. Two batters later, Sam Haggerty singled home Murphy to kick off the scoring on Monday night.

The RubberDucks rally continued off of Rumble Ponies starter Marcos Molina. In the third inning, Akron corralled three straight infield hits to bring home three two-out runs. Mark Mathias, Murphy, and Daniel Salters strung together the trio of knocks to put the RubberDucks ahead comfortably, 4-0.

Molina (0-1) tossed five innings in his first start of the season, allowing four earned runs and a walk. The 23-year old struck out five RubberDucks.

Binghamton, meanwhile, failed to earn a hit off of Chiang until Peter Alonso’s fourth-inning single. 

Chiang (1-0) gave up just three hits over five innings of work, striking out four Binghamton batters.

The Rumble Ponies loaded the bases in the fifth and sixth innings, but left all three baserunners stranded in consecutive frames. Andrew Ely flew out to left field to end the fifth-inning rally, while both Jhoan Urena and Tim Tebow whiffed with the bases stuffed in the sixth inning.

Levi Michael’s leadoff triple kickstarted a three-run seventh inning rally, cutting the deficit to just one. With Patrick Mazeika at the dish, Leandro Linares’ wild pitch allowed Michael to touch home. Tomas Nido then greeted left-hander David Speer with a single into right-center field, scoring two to make it 4-3. The Rumble Ponies would leave the bases loaded for the third straight inning. 

The RubberDucks were held at bay by Adonis Uceta and Gerson Bautista, who limited Akron to two hits over three innings with seven strikeouts.

Sicknarf Loopstock provided Akron’s insurance against Rumble Ponies reliever Austin McGeorge, blasting his first home run of the season over the left field fence, pushing the RubberDucks to a 6-3 lead.

Mitch Brown retired the side in order in the ninth inning for his first save of 2018.

Binghamton (3-1) readies for the middle-game of this set Tuesday evening. RHP Joseph Shaw takes the bump in his Rumble Ponies debut, ready to oppose Akron RHP Shane Bieber. First pitch is slated for 6:35 PM at NYSEG Stadium. The Horizons Federal Credit Union pregame show starts at 6:20 PM and can be heard on NewsRadio 1290 WNBF and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies channel on TuneIn.

POSTGAME NOTES: Peter Alonso has a hit in all four games this season…Gerson Bautista has eight strikeouts in his first three innings pitched…Levi Michael (2-for-4) had his first multi-hit game in the Mets organization…John Mora (2-for-4) has back-to-back multi-hit games