Lake County Sentinel
RubberDucks stop Baysox 5-2
BY DAVID WILSON
RUBBERDUCKS MEDIA
Akron starter Adam Plutko struck out eight hitters in his first start of the season, and Bradley Zimmer drove in two runs with a pair of hits, as the RubberDucks claimed a 5-2 victory over the Bowie Baysox in the season opener Thursday night at Prince George’s Stadium.
Turning Point
The RubberDucks scored twice in the third to take a 2-0 lead. Eric Stamets led off with a single, and scored on Zimmer’s double to left. Two batters later, Nellie Rodriguez lifted a broken-bat single to right to score Zimmer. The rally came against Bowie starter Joe Gunkel (0-1), who lasted five innings and gave up two runs on seven hits.
Winging It
Plutko (1-0) was brilliant in his initial outing of the season. He pitched 5.2 innings and allowed just two hits and one unearned run. He fanned eight and walked two. Plutko did not surrender a hit until allowing back-to-back singles to start off the sixth. A passed ball set up an unearned run on a groundout, and Plutko left with a 3-1 lead after throwing 79 pitches. Louis Head, J.P. Feyereisen and Ben Heller all saw action out of the bullpen. Heller surrendered a solo homer in the 9th, but closed out the game by striking out Bowie third baseman Drew Dosch with two men on base.
Duck Tales
Bryson Myles lined a solo homer in the sixth, his first of the season, off Orioles lefty Brian Matusz, who was making a injury rehab appearance. That increased Akron’s lead to 3-0 at the time. Stamets hit leadoff and finished 2-4, with a stolen base and three runs scored. Zimmer added an RBI single in the seventh, and finished 2-4 on the night. Left fielder Clint Frazier slapped an opposite field double to right in his first Double-A at-bat. He was 1-5.
Notebook
The RubberDucks (1-0) had 10 hits…The Baysox committed three errors; the Ducks had none…Rain forced a 36-minute delay at the outset, but play was never halted…Game time temperature was 50 degrees…The Baysox were presented their 2015 EL championship rings in a pre-game ceremony…Thursday’s game was the first of 21 scheduled meetings between the RubberDucks and the Baysox this season…Time of game: 2:34…Attendance: 2,785.
On Deck
The teams will meet in Game 2 of the series on Friday evening at 7. Lefty Shawn Morimando will start for the RubberDucks, and Right-hander David Hess is the announced starter for Bowie. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1350 AM, the WARF iHeart channel, and the TuneIn Radio App.
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POSTED 04/07/2016 23:30
