Bowie Baysox Defeat Erie SeaWolves 7-3 - Eastern League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - (Bowie, MD) – Brad Bergesen earned his tenth win despite coming out of the bullpen as the Baysox outscored the SeaWolves 7-3 Sunday night. Baltimore Orioles pitcher Randor Bierd got the call to start Sunday's contest. Bierd was transferred to Bowie Sunday as part of a Major League rehab assignment. With rain delaying the start of the game and threatening to cause a stoppage, Bierd got the nod to start the game to make sure he got his required work.

Erie got on the board in the top of the second inning. Ryan Roberson led off the inning with a shot to third base. Jonathan Tucker got his glove on the ball but it ricocheted and hit him above the left eye. Roberson reached safely and Tucker had to come out of the game; he was replaced by Travis Brown. Kody Kirkland rocked a double to center field and Roberson came all the way around to score from first. Kirkland moved to third base on a wild pitch by Bierd and Jeff Kunkel got a base hit into right field to plate Kirkland and give the SeaWolves a 2-0 lead. Scheduled starter Brad Bergesen entered the game for Bierd and got the first batter he faced to ground into a double play and got the third out on a ground ball to Brown and the inning was over.

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The Baysox answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Matt Wieters led off with a base hit to left field and Ryan Finan flied out. Steve Torrealba drew a walk and Carlos Rojas pulled a base hit through the hole at short to load the bases with one out. Blake Davis grounded out to first base but Wieters came in to score on the play. Travis Brown loaded the bases again with a walk and Mike Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, bringing Torrealba in to tie the game at 2-2. Lou Montanez struck out to end the threat.

Bowie added runs in the third and the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Nolan Reimold led off the third inning with a double into the gap in left-center and scored when Steve Torrealba smacked a double down the right field line. Matt Wieters gave the Baysox a two-run lead with his first homerun in Prince George's Stadium, a solo homerun to right field in the bottom of the fifth. He is hitting .353 in his first ten games in AA, but he contends that is not as easy as it looks, "I don't think it's ever easy, you still gotta work hard and put your time in. I'm going through a good time right now and I'm seeing the ball well so you just try to get as many hits as possible while you're seeing the ball well. The struggles are gonna come, you just gotta get the hits when you can."

First baseman Ryan Finan injured his ankle sliding into third base in the fifth inning and had to leave the game. Catcher Brian Peterson came in to play first.

Erie scored a run in the top of the sixth but could have come away with much more. Dusty Ryan hit a one-out single up the middle and Pedro Cotto got a base hit into right field. Ryan Roberson came up with a single of his own into right field and the bases were loaded with just one away. Kody Kirkland was able to drive a sacrifice fly into center field to cut the Bowie lead to 4-3. Jeff Kunkel drew a walk to load the bases with two outs and Casper Wells stepped up to the plate. Bergesen threw a ball, but catcher Steve Torrealba snapped a perfect pickoff throw behind Kunkel at first base. Peterson, in for Finan, fielded the throw and laid down the tag to end the inning.

Peterson has had limited experience at first base, but his instincts as a catcher helped him on this particular play, "Yeah, (I've played first) probably ten or so times when a first baseman was injured and we had to shuffle things around. I know when I'm catching I always want a chance to try to pick somebody off, Bergesen threw four balls in a row leading up to it. I just took a step in and looked at Steve and he saw me looking, gave me a little nod and I just took off toward the bag. It was a perfect throw, it was ankle high, I guess the runner was kinda upset cause I sort of blocked the bag but hey, I'm not a first baseman."

Torrealba remembered it the same way, "Well it was two catchers together playing right there and you know most of the time we're on the same page. I looked down at Petey and he gave me a little look back so it was kind of exciting you know, it's always exciting when you make a play like that. We stopped the bleeding right there so it was a great play."

The Baysox put the game out of reach with three more run in the bottom of the seventh. Mike Rodriguez led off with a base hit up the middle and advanced to second on a balk. Lou Montanez grounded out but Rodriguez moved to third base. Nolan Reimold hit a shallow fly ball to right field. Pedro Cotto had to make a long run to get there and could not make a sprawling catch. Reimold got credit for a single and moved to second base on the fielding error by Cotto. Rodriguez came in to score and the Baysox lead was 5-3. Matt Wieters warranted an intentional walk to put runners on first and second with one out. After a Brian Peterson flyout, Steve Torrealba hit a double down the left field line, scoring Reimold and moving Wieters to third. Carlos Rojas brought Wieters in with a single through the hole at short and the Bowie lead was 7-3.

Bergesen worked 7.0 innings, pitching through the top of the eighth. He won his tenth game in just 14 appearances since being promoted to Bowie from Class High-A Frederick early this year. He wasn't affected by the non-start, despite the fact it was a last minute decision, "It was definitely huge to get rolling there, I didn't even know until about a half an hour before the game that I wouldn't be starting. I only had one strikeout tonight I was just trying to get ground balls like I always do. The defense played stellar tonight, Travis Brown was phenomenal at third. The offense has been great so far so we're just rolling."

Gerardo Casadiego came in and worked a perfect ninth inning, striking out one batter to close out the SeaWolves. With the victory, the Baysox improve to 51-38 on the year, second place in the Southern Division.