Julian Merryweather tied a career high with nine strikeouts, and Bobby Bradley and Mike Papi hit back-to-back home runs to help Lynchburg snap a season-long four-game losing streak and improve to 23-12 on the season with a 4-1 win at Five County Stadium Saturday night.
Merryweather (6-1) tossed 5 2/3 innings, shutting out the Mudcats while only allowing four hits and two walks. The right-hander struck out nine to match his total from a start against Lansing last year on August 15 while he was with Lake County.
Merryweather leads the Carolina League with six wins and an ERA of 0.63. David Speer went 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, lowering his ERA to 0.52. He leads the circuit in fewest baserunners per nine innings. Luke Eubank allowed a run on two walks and a hit batter in 1 2/3 innings to end the game.
Bobby Bradley added to his own league-leading totals Saturday night. With the bases loaded in the second inning, he walked to push Claudio Bautista across the plate and give Lynchburg a 1-0 lead.
After Yu-Cheng Chang doubled in the fifth, Bradley drilled a ball well beyond the right-field fence for his league-best ninth home run of the year. It gave him a league-topping 38 RBIs as well.
On the very next pitch, Mike Papi sent hit a home run to right-center field, and the Hillcats led 4-0. Papi now has six home runs for the year. He finished the game 2-3 with a double and homer.
Lynchburg is 14-5 when a Hillcat hits a home run…The Hillcats have a league-best 29 homers as a team…Yu-Cheng Chang hit his 13th double in the fifth inning to move him into a tie for the Carolina League lead at the time…The Hillcats went 1-13 with runners in scoring position.
Sean Brady (2-2, 5.13) starts an afternoon contest at Five County Stadium Sunday at 2 p.m. Fans can listen to the action on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com, beginning with the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 1:45 p.m.
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Chris Graham
