Spinner first baseman Tucker Tubbs runs out of real estate as he makes a difficult catch of a pop fly by Tri-City’s Stephen Wrenn (28) against the Spinners dugout. Catcher Nick Sciortino backs up the play. (Photo by George DeLuca/Connector)
Despite earning an early lead, the Lowell Spinners (9-2) fell 8-3 against the Tri-City Valleycats (5-6) in the third and final game in the series on Monday night.
Lowell earned the first run of the night in the first inning. Right fielder Matt McLean earned his second triple of the season to start off the Spinners at bat. A single from second baseman Nick Lovullo sent McLean home. The first inning ended 1-0 in favor of the home team, which turned out to be their only lead of the night.
The Valleycats quickly tied the game up, earning a run in the second inning after a catching error by center fielder Yoan Aybar. A double from Tri-City got runners to second and third, but a catch on a fly ball from left fielder Tyler Hill ended the top of the second inning, 1-1. The Spinners were unable to score in the second and the contest entered the third inning tied.
The game remained tied by the end of the third inning, with both teams adding two more runs each. The Spinners scored after a wild pitch sent triple from first baseman Tucker Tubbs sent Hill and Lovullo home.
The visiting Valleycats began to pull away in the fourth inning, after a home run gave them two runs. Tri-City added another run in the fifth, despite a pitching change for the Spinners.
Starting pitcher Daniel Gonzalez ended the night with four strikeouts, seven hits, and a homerun. Gonzalez was replaced by Stephen Nogosek in the fifth. He pitched for one inning, earning no strikeouts and one run.
Danny Zandona came on in the sixth inning for the Spinners to end the night. Zandona gave up two triples to the Valleycats early on in the sixth inning, leading to the seventh run of the night for the visitors.
Lowell trailed 7-3 going into the seventh inning. Neither team were able to gain momentum on offense in the seventh and eighth innings, leaving the Spinners down by four going into the final inning of the night.
Tri-City earned their final run of the night off a lead off homerun in the ninth inning, their second of the night. The Spinners were unable to make anything happen offensively in the final inning, with only Hill making it to a base on a walk.
The Spinners travel to face the Connecticut Tigers on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
