Lowell Spinners sweep up Auburn 12-3

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It’s never easy to sweep a team whether you are at home or on the road. On Sunday night, the Lowell Spinners brought their boom with them to LeLacheur Park. They put them to use sweeping the series from the Auburn Doubledays 12-3.

Every Spinners player in the starting lineup had at least one hit, several had a few RBI in this game. The pitching was good as was the defense and it all added up to a solid weekend at home. With two days to go for the All-Star break, this team is still in the thick of a playoff race.

Jake Thompson got the start for Lowell and for the first time since arriving, looked comfortable on the hill. He would throw two solid innings giving up nothing. He did walk a couple of hitters, but he was in control through his outing.

He got help from his mates who jumped on Auburn starter Seth Romero for three runs in the very first inning.

It began with one down, a single by Frankie Rios was followed by a walk to Garrett Benge. Then, Marino Campana extended his hit streak right away with a RBI double to left 1-0 Lowell. Campana’s hit streak is now at 16 games.

Another guy starting to get warm with the bat is Juan Barriento. His single to center scored Benge to make it 2-0. For Barriento, his hit streak now stands at seven. After the game manager, Iggy Suarez said the middle of the lineup is thumping. Yoan Aybar finished the first inning scoring by getting on via an infield hit scoring Campana. 3-0 home team. For Aybar, it was part of a three hit night.

Auburn got one of those runs back in the third against Dakota Smith who came on to take over for Thompson. Back-to-back singles from the bottom of the Doubledays lineup, Nick Choruby, and Jenner Baez, had Auburn set up with runners on first and second. Smith got the leadoff hitter Austin Guibor to strike out, but the next man, Carter Kieboom put the Doubledays on the board with a RBI single to center that drove in Choruby. 3-1 Lowell.

The Spinners got that run back and added a couple more in their half of the third against Jake Cousins. A single by Barriento, two hits on the night, was followed by a booming triple off the bat of Raiwinson Lameda to right field, 4-1 Lowell. Aybar drove home Lameda with his second hit of the night a single to right, 5-1. Two batters later Steven Reveles brought home Aybar with a single to center to make it 6-1 Spinners after three.

The Doubledays tried to stay in the game, they would score two in the fourth to cut the lead in half at 6-3. A RBI single by Joshua Ramirez brought home one run, then a run scoring base hit to center by Guibor had Auburn still in the game down 6-3.

It did not last long, as the Spinners exploded for sixth in the fifth to put the game and series away. All the runs came at the expense of Auburn third pitcher of the night Max Engelbrekt who in his one inning of work was charged with six runs all earned on five hits. The Spinners batted around to end any suspense about this one.

Another unsung hero of the night for Lowell was Taylor Ahearn who would finish the game by throwing the final four innings. As Suarez said, “Once we had the big lead we tried to use less pitching to finish it, especially with two days off”.

The final score of this one was Lowell 12 Auburn 3. The teams now have a couple of days off while the All -Star game is played in Troy NY. When they return to play the Spinners will have 23 games left in the season, and will begin that stretch with a big three game set in Vermont against the Lake Monsters.

The win goes to Smith (4-2) who as his manager said, hung in there and gave what he had. His tank may have been on empty but he got the job done. Ahearn picks up his first save of the season. The losing pitcher was Romero (0-1).