TRENTON, NJ – The Trenton Thunder used strong efforts from Brady Lail and Kyle Haynes in a 2-0 shutout win over the Portland Sea Dogs Sunday afternoon at ARM & HAMMER Park.
On a day where 4,822 fans strolled through the turnstiles and in a weekend where nearly 17,000 fans came to ARM & HAMMER Park, Trenton took the final two games of the series in a series victory over its East Division rival.
Lail zipped through his five innings of work before passing the baton off to hard-throwing bullpen arm, Haynes. Lail allowed baserunners in just one of his five innings escaping a two-on, two-out situation by inducing a groundout by Keury De La Cruz to end the 4th. Lail needed just 51 pitches (31 strikes) to earn his third win of the season, and he needed just 24 pitches to retire nine batters in his first three perfect innings. Lail’s ERA drops to 2.52 on the season with his outing.
Haynes entered with the Thunder ahead 2-0 and kept the ballgame in favor of the home team, buy allowing just two hits over four innings. The first two batters reached off him in the 9th inning, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Oscar Tejeda, but Tejeda grounded into a double play to bring the Thunder one out from victory. The next batter, Keury De La Cruz, finished an 0-for-4 game by grounding into his fourth unassisted groundout to Dan Fiorito at first base.
The three hits allowed by the Thunder in a 9-inning game eclipses the four-hit night they held the Erie SeaWolves to on Opening Night as the best effort by the Thunder staff all season. Offensively, Trenton’s bats got the job done with two runs on six hits, but Sunday’s game snapped a streak of 16-straight 9+-inning games with at least 8 runs for the Thunder. Though held hitless, Jake Cave walked in his second plate appearance and has now reached base in 19 consecutive ballgames since May 12th.
The lone runs on the game came home in the 3rd inning off Portland starter, Joe Gunkel. With Jake Cave at first base and Cito Culver at second, Ali Castillo lined a base hit to right field. As Culver came home to score, Cave hustled hard to third base—challenging the arm of the right fielder Aneury Tavarez. The throw by Tavarez was mishandled by the Tejeda at third base, allowing Cave to pop-up and come home to score the final run in the game.
After enjoying a day-off Monday, the Thunder hit the road Tuesday morning to Binghamton , NY where they begin a three-game series against the Binghamton Mets. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and pre-game coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on 91.3 FM and online at www.trentonthunder.com. The Thunder next return to ARM & HAMMER Park Friday, June 5 for a six-game homestand, beginning with three games against the Harrisburg Senators. Limited tickets are available by calling (609) 394-3300 or by going to www.trentonthunder.com/tickets.
In a move announced after the game, RHP Eric Wooten was transferred from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre ,where he has gone 1-3 with a 6.43 ERA in 6 games/3 games started with the RailRiders. In 3 games/3 games started with the Thunder this season, Wooten is 0-1 with a 7.43 ERA. He is expected to start Tuesday’s game against the Binghamton Mets at NYSEG Stadium.
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