After a quick start, and an eventual game-tying home run from Coby Mayo in the eighth, the Bowie Baysox were unable to complete the job, as they fell to the Somerset Patriots, 6-4, in 11 innings on Sunday night at Prince George’s Stadium.
The fast start came on both ends for Bowie. As right-handed starter Alex Pham was stellar through five frames on the evening. Pham retired the side in order in the top of the first on just seven pitches. In the bottom half of the opening frame, Jud Fabian walked, before advancing to third base on a double from Mayo, and eventually crossing home on an RBI groundout from rehabbing major league catcher James McCann, to give the Baysox a 1-0 lead. Fabian would plate himself in the bottom of the third with a solo home run to left field, his fourth of the season in just his eleventh Double-A contest. The solo bomb doubled Bowie’s advantage to 2-0. However, the Mayo double and Fabian long ball were the only two hits for Bowie on the night against Somerset right-handed starter Blane Abeyta, who struck out nine batters and walked just two through six frames.
Still, Pham remained in control on the mound for the Baysox. The right-hander had faced the minimum, and allowed just one hit through four frames. However, Pham faced a hiccup in the top of the fifth, as he walked Jeisson Rosario with two outs before allowing a game-tying two-run home run to the Patriots’ Aaron Palensky. Pham would finish his second start at the Double-A level after five innings, allowing just the two runs on three hits, accompanied by two walks and four strikeouts.
Right-hander Jean Pinto entered after Pham for the Baysox. Following two scoreless innings of relief, Pinto ran into trouble in the eighth. After Trey Sweeney reached on an error by Bowie second baseman Billy Cook, Pinto allowed three hits in the inning, including an RBI single to Everson Pereira that gave Somerset a 3-2 advantage.
The Baysox would charge right back, as Mayo mashed his team-leading seventeenth home run down the left field line with two outs in the bottom half of the eighth to knot the contest back up at three. Saturday night was also Mayo’s third-consecutive game with a home run, marking the third time in his career he had homered in three straight games.
The game would remain at that score through the ninth and tenth, with neither side being able to plate its courtesy runner in the first extra stanza after advancing him to third. However, in the top of the eleventh, the wheels fell off for Bowie. McCann was subbed out behind the dish for Tim Susnara, while right-hander Tyler Burch entered on the mound for the Baysox. The fresh battery combined for a pair of wild pitches and a passed ball in the eleventh. Combined with three singles allowed by Burch (L,0-2), Somerset was able to plate a trio of runs and take a 6-3 lead.
Mayo scored Donta’ Williams with an RBI single in the bottom of the eleventh, but it was not enough in the end, as Patriots’ right-hander Blas Castano (W, 4-3) only allowed that unearned run in his two innings of relief.
The loss drops the Baysox to 32-42 on the season. After dropping five of six, Bowie looks to end the six-game series with Somerset on a high note, when the sides close out the set on Monday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET from Prince George’s Stadium.
