The Hillcats gave up three home runs and were unable to take full advantage of four Keys errors to fall to Frederick 10-6 on Sunday night.
Frederick struck first in the top of the third. Andrelton Simmons committed an error that allowed Justin Dalles to score and Jonathan Schoop to reach first. Later in the inning,k Schoop scored on an RBI single by Manny Machado to give the Keys an early 2-0 lead.
The Keys broke the game open in the fourth. With two outs, five straight batters reached base, capped off by a three-run home run by Jonathan Schoop. Five runs scored on four hits in the inning, and the Keys led 7-0.
The Hillcats tried to claw their way back in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Joey Terdoslavich was hit on the foot by a pitch from Nick Haughian. He had started to swing, but according to the umpires, he was able to hold up. This brought out an outraged Orlando Gomez from the Keys dugout, and he was ejected by home plate umpire Aaron Roberts. Joe Leonard singled, and Shawn McGill walked to load the bases. Marcus Lemon fought to a full count and then drew a walk, scoring the first run of the game for the Hillcats. Geraldo Rodriguez struck out, and then Keenan Wiley hit a grounder to second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Schoop bobbled the ball, every runner advanced safely and Leonard came in to score. With Todd Cunningham at the plate, Haughian threw a breaking pitch that got past catcher Justin Dalles, allowing McGill to score from third. Cunningham grounded out, but the lead shrank to 7-3.
The Keys got some of those runs back quickly in the top of the fifth. After Kipp Schutz led off with a walk, Michael Flacco hit a titanic shot to left for a two-run home run, extending the lead to 9-3.
Lynchburg got one back in the bottom of the fifth. Barrett Kleinknecht swung at a pitch and caught a piece of Dalles’s glove, giving him first on catcher’s interference with one out. Terdoslavich singled, but back-to-back singles by Leonard and McGill drove in Kleinknecht to make the score 9-4.
The Hillcats took advantage of another Keys error to cut the lead even further in the sixth. Todd Cunningham was standing on second with two outs. Andrelton Simmons hit a grounder to Dale Mollenhauer at third. He made a low throw to first that Flacco couldn’t pick out of the dirt. Cunningham scored to make it 9-5 and Simmons ended up on second. It was the fourth error of the game for the Keys, and the tenth error of the series.
The two teams exchanged home runs in the eighth inning. Bobby Stevens hit his second home run in as many nights to lead off the eighth. In the bottom half of the inning, Geraldo Rodriguez hit his ninth home run of the season to make it 10-6, and despite the Hillcats threatening in the ninth, that was the final score as the Hillcats saw their four-game winning streak end.
Chris Petrini (2-1) earned the win for the Keys, pitching the fifth and sixth innings without giving up an earned run. Ashur Tolliver pitched the last three innings of the game to earn the save, his first with the Keys. David Hale (3-6) gave up nine runs, eight earned in four and one-third innings to take the loss.
The Hillcats dropped to 24-31, and the Keys improved to 34-21.
The Keys and Hillcats finish their four-game series Sunday night at City Stadium. Caleb Brewer (0-0) will pitch for the Hillcats and Lefty Nathan Moreau (11-9) will pitch for the Keys. First pitch is at 6:05 pm and the gates will open at 5.
The Hillcats On-Deck Show presented by Honda/Suzuki of Lynchburg will go on the air at 5:40 pm. Tune in to 105.5 KD Country or go to lynchburg-hillcats.com to listen live to all the action.
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