“Pitching duels are the purest form of baseball drama.” — Vin Scully
It was kid’s jersey giveaway night at Dunkin’ Park, but an overall light crowd given the mid-week game on a school night. We arrived early to catch batting practice, and sat in the right field stands for a bit. Eli got a toss-up and turned out to be one of the new minor league balls, which I didn’t realize were being used. The blue font is much brighter than the previous iteration.
The Yard Goats and Rumble Ponies entered the game tied, 18-13, both a half game back of the Sea Dogs. We got to see Ronny Mauricio on a rehab assignment, as he tries to make his way back to the Mets after 18 months off following an injury.
Gabriel Hughes took the mound for the Yard Goats, entering with only 7 earned runs through 6 starts for a 2.36 ERA. The game ended up a pitchers duel, with the game scoreless through 10 innings. Hughes sat down 15 straight batters, pitching a perfect 5 innings before coming out of the game. This was his second perfect outing of the season, after his opening day start which we also attended. He improved to a 1.99 ERA, third in the Eastern League.
The Yard Goats ended up scoring the only run of the game in the bottom of the 11th, on a sacrifice bunt by Dyan Jorge that turned into an error and let Bryant Betancourt score. We watched extra innings from behind the Yard Goats dugout, and it made for an exciting ending with the folks who stuck around until the end.
