The Lowell Spinners (19-8), returned home to LeLacheur Park on Saturday for a short weekend stay as they play host to the Auburn Doubledays (13-15). The Spinners sent Yusniel Padron-Artilles to the mound making his fifth start of the season, and in possession of a perfect record of 3-0. Rafael Gomez was making his fourth start of the year for Auburn. He had allowed thirty hits in nineteen innings pitched and thirteen earned runs coming into this game. Lowell came into the game with a 10-2 home record and the Doubledays came in 5-8 on the road. The end result would be a 5-3 Spinners win to begin the short homestand.
It did not take long for Auburn to strike. In the top of the first, the Doubledays plated a run against Pardon-Artilles. Leadoff hitter, Jake Randa, ripped a double over the head of right fielder Nick Decker’s head and off the wall. David Masters was the next batter and he singled to left past the dive of Spinners third baseman Alex Erro. The base hit scored Randa and gave Auburn a 1-0 lead. In their half of the first, the Spinners tried to answer that run with one of their own. Instead, they would leave the bases loaded. Both Nick Northcut and Luke Bandy popped out in the infield to end the inning.
The first time through the Spinners order, Gomez (1-1) was in and out of trouble. In the third, he was back in trouble. A hit batsman with one out was followed by a double down the right-field line by Stephen Scott (two hits, run scored). Scott has made good use of the week off the Red Sox gave him after his signing. Scott said, ” I have been able to get back to game speed”. Elih Marrero, with runners at second and third, made Gomez pay as he lined a two-run base hit to center field scoring Erro and Scott and giving Lowell a 2-1 lead. An infield single by Northcut kept the inning going. After Bandy struck out, Decker put the finishing touches on the third as he took an 0-2 fastball over the scoreboard in right for his second home run of the season. After the game, Decker said, “I was able to barrel up an inside pitch”. The three-run shot gives him fourteen RBI on the season and the Spinners took a 5-1 lead into the fourth.
Auburn got a couple of those runs back in the fourth. A leadoff home run that curled around the right-field pole by Caldioli Sanfler, his second of the year, got one of the runs back. Two outs later, a single by Jose Sanchez to left was followed up by a fly ball double to left by J.T. Aruda. The hit scored Sanchez and made the score 5-3 Lowell. Gomez was relieved after four innings with a line of six hits, five earned runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. He was replaced by Evan Lee in the fifth. Lee was good for Auburn going four innings and giving up one hit, zero runs, one walk, and two punch outs. Pardon-Artilles (4-0) left the ball game after six innings and his line was (eight hits, three earned runs, one base on balls, and four strikeouts). He was replaced in the seventh by Jeremy Bleich.
The game went to the later innings with Lowell still in the lead. In the eighth, the Spinners went back to their pen and brought on Osvaldo de la Rosa. He would allow one hit and one walk but that was it. In his two innings of wor, he picked up his second save of the season. Pardon-Artilles remains undefeated on the season. Gomez suffered his first loss of the year.
Luke Montz was happy after the win and thought his starter gave him “six really good innings”.
Game two of the series is Sunday at 5 PM.
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