FISHKILL, N.Y. — Hudson Valley starting pitcher Wilmer Almonte retired the first 18 Lowell Spinners batters he faced before Felix Sanchez legged out an infield single on a swinging bunt to third base, leading off the seventh inning.
But it was too little, too late as the Spinners season concluded with a franchise-record 50th loss of the season (24-50), this one to the Hudson Valley Renegades, 5-1, last night.
Hudson Valley (39-36) scored first in the second inning when Derek Dietrich struck a lead-off triple to right-centerfield, scoring on a single by Mayo Acosta for a 1-0 lead. The Renegades added a run in the fifth.
Almonte continued to mow down the Spinners, at one point striking out six batters in a row, and seven out of eight, during the fourth through sixth innings, as he set down the Spinners in order in each of the first six innings.
The Spinners only run of the game came when Miles Head delivered a one-out single, scoring Sanchez and cutting the Renegades lead to 2-1.
Cooper extends hit streak but Fisher Cats fall
David Cooper singled in the seventh inning to extend his hit streak to ten games, but the Fisher Cats managed only three other hits in a 9-2 loss to Portland, yesterday afternoon at Hadlock Field.
New Hampshire (79-61) scored two runs in the top of the second to take an early lead. After loading the bases on a walk to Cooper, a single by Ricardo Nanita and a single by Matt Liuzza, Adam Loewen walked to make it 1-0. A second run scored on a double play grounder by Jonathan Jaspe.
Portland (69-71), winners of four straight, cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning then tied it in the bottom of the third inning. Portland went ahead in the bottom of the fifth inning, then kept building the lead. The final game of the regular season will be played this afternoon, at Hadlock Field (1 p.m.)
New Hampshire opens the playoffs on Wednesday, Sept. 8 in Trenton. The Thunder, the Yankees Double-A farm club, has captured the Eastern Division title and will have home field advantage in the best-of-five series with the Fisher Cats. New Hampshire will host game three of the series, and game four (if necessary) on Friday and Saturday Sept. 10 and 11.
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