Yesterday evening, the Blue Crabs finished their home stand with a game against the Sugar Land Skeeters. The Skeeters jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning when leadoff batter Jeff Dominguez hit a flare into center field for a single, and was batted around by his teammates. He eventually stole home on a successful double steal by the Skeeters. The lead was increased in the top of the 3rd inning, when again Dominguez singled up the middle, and was bat around by his teammates. He ended up scoring on a groundout by Chris Wallace. The lead was pushed to 2-0, but didn’t stay that way for long.
In the home half of the 4th inning, Jake Opitz walked, was hit to second when Jovan Rosa singled, stole third base, and later scored when Keith Castillo singled to right field to draw within a run of the Skeeters. In the home half of the 5th inning, the Blue Crabs tied the game at 2 as Casey Stevenson tripled into deep right field, and was brought home on a Zach Wilson fly out to deep right field. The Blue Crabs scored for the third straight inning in the bottom of the 6th, as Jovan Rosa took advantage of a hanging changeup, and crushed the ball over the clubhouses in deep left field. It was a solo shot, and the Blue Crabs gained the lead 3-2. The score stayed the same until the top of the 8th, when the Sugar Land first baseman Delwyn Young hit a double into deep right center field, and scored on a Johan Limanta base hit on a close play at the plate. This tied the game at 3.
In the bottom of the 8th, the Blue Crabs had a tremendous chance to score, but failed as they loaded the bases with two outs. The threat ended as Anton Dejesus swung and missed on a 1-2 slider. The 9th inning came and went, and we went into extra innings.
Neither team had a scoring chance in te tenth inning, but the Skeeters broke through in the 11th. The inning started with a Patrick Palmeiro walk, and he was bunted over to second by Denny Almonte. The next batter, Jeff Dominguez came up, and laced a liner to center that got under the glove of Anton Dejesus. By the time the ball was brought back into the infield, Palmeiro had scored easily, and Dominguez was standing on third base. After two strikeouts to end the inning, the score stood at 4-3 Skeeters. The Blue Crabs were retired in order in the bottom of the 11th, and dropped this game to Sugar Land 4-3.
After the game, Blue Crabs manager Stan Cliburn said, “ We had plenty of chances. We needed the key hit, and couldn’t come up with one. Unfortunately for us, they did, and we lost the ballgame.” The Blue Crabs will take to the road tomorrow and take on the York Revolution in a 4 game series. They return home August 9th to take on the Bridgeport Revolution at 2:05 PM.