Wednesday Afternoon in Erie

It was a tale of two games in Erie this afternoon, as the Senators roared back from a 3-1 deficit with nine unanswered runs for a 10-3 pummeling.

In the first half, it looked like this might be a pitcher’s duel, despite Trey Lipscomb hitting one off the wall in left-center field with two outs in the 1st. Harrisburg threatened again with two out in the 2nd but a two-out walk by Jackson Cluff followed by a single by J.T. Arruda. But Brady Lindsly struck out to end the threat.

For the next four innings, it was much the same: The Sens would get a man on but couldn’t get ’em over, save for a diving 4-3 putout that pushed Robert Hassell to second with two out in the 3rd.

Junkballer Nash Walters got the spot start in place of Alex Troop and kept the SeaWolves, um, at bay for three innings with the help of Jacob Young gunning down a runner at the plate with Lindsly correcting his Young’s overthrow with a textbook tag. Nash walked the next batter and then struck out his fourth and final batter.

In the 5th, Patrick Ruotolo ran into trouble as a single and a walk put the go-ahead runs on with one out. It looked like he might get out the jam but instead gave up an Earl Weaver special to put Erie up 3-1 after five innings.

And then a funny thing happened in the second half of the game. The Senators offense didn’t go to recess as it usually does.

Trey Lipscomb rapped another sharp grounder that the Seawolves 2B couldn’t handle to lead off the 6th inning, then, following James Wood’s second strikeout, Donovan Casey threaded one into the 5/6 hole that the Erie 3B stopped but couldn’t make a throw. Frankie Tostado then deposited the next pitch over the UPMC rightfield wall for a 4-3 lead.

Harrisburg got three more in the 7th without going deep, with an assist from the Erie defense deciding it was good idea to go after Lindsly, who led off the inning with a doublr, at third base instead of throwing into second base to hold Young to single. Young saw the dumbass play and it turned it into a double. Lipscomb made them pay for that mistake with another single to right, this time driving in two.

Lindsly, Young, and Lipscomb struck again in the 8th as the catcher collected his third hit, the outfielder his second double, while the third baseman hit his second homer to cap off a four-hit, six-RBI game. James Wood put the cherry on top of the sundae with a no-doubt-about-it HR over the CF backdrop.

Though Ruotolo was the pitcher of record when Harrisburg took the lead, the win went Garvin Alston for pitching a scoreless 7th while Malvin Peña marooned the Seawolves for three scoreless innings to get the save.

The series continues tomorrow with Mitchell Parker listed as the starter while Erie will send out the rubber-armed TBD.