Baseball: Wild Final Two Innings Leave Monsters a Run Short in 5-4 Loss

Posted on , updated on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — In a New York-Penn League contest that included both a triple play and inside-the-park home run, the Hudson Valley Renegades defeated the Vermont Lake Monsters 5-4 Wednesday night at historic Centennial Field.

The triple play occurred in the top of the fifth when with Renegade runners on first and second with no outs, Angello Infante induced a 5-4-3 triple play to keep the game scoreless. It was the second triple play in Lake Monsters history, the first coming on July 9, 2017 when Vermont trailed Hudson Valley 4-1 in top of the ninth and turned a L4-6-3 triple play before scoring four runs in bottom ninth for a 5-4 victory.

Then with Hudson Valley holding a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth with a runner on first, Cristhian Pedroza blooped one to leftcenter that dropped as leftfielder Noah Vaughan and centerfielder Kevin Richards both dove for the ball. Vaughan stayed down while Richards had trouble locating the ball that had kicked away and allowed Pedroza to circle the bases for a two-run inside-the-park home run.

That three-run lead would prove big as Yerdel Yargas drilled a one-out, two-run homer to left off Jose Roca to cut the deficit to 5-4. After a Roca walk to Matt Cross, reliever Hector Figueroa came on to get a groundball force out and struckout Danny Bautista to end the game.

The game had been scoreless until the eighth inning when Hudson Valley scored three runs, including a Luis Arcendo suicide squeeze bunt to score Pedroza with the game’s first. Three Vermont errors in the inning led to two more unearned runs and a 3-0 Renegades advantage. Vermont answered with two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a bases loaded walk and run scoring wild pitch.

Both starting pitchers were effective as Vermont’s Richard Guasch allowed just one hit with one walk and five strikeouts over the first four innings, while Hudson Valley’s Daiveyon Whittle two hits with two walks and four strikeouts over five innings. Infante (0-1) was charged with five runs (three earned) on five hits and four strikeouts over five innings to take the loss.

Vermont (4-2) and Hudson Valley (2-4) will wrap up the three-game series on Thursday starting at 7:05 pm with the first 750 fans receiving a free Lake Monsters Pet Food Bowl.