It had to end at some point for the BayBears, as they suffered their first loss of the 2011 season on Monday afternoon at Five County Stadium with the Carolina Mudcats scoring a 10-4 victory.
For the first time in the series, Carolina (1-4) scored the game's first run as Felix Perez walked and later came home on a sac fly from Mike Costanzo. With Jarrod Parker making his return from Tommy John surgery, the BayBears (4-1) worked up a couple runs to pad him with the lead.
A.J. Pollock cranked a double with one out in the third and touched home after a
base hit by Evan Frey to tie the game at 1-1. In the fourth, Taylor Harbin
reached on a fielder's choice and went to second on a throwing error before
coming home on a Mark Hallberg single.
Carolina took the lead back for good in the bottom of the fourth as Jose Castro doubled home two runs before the wheels came off for Parker. He had cruised through the first three and ended up with five strikeouts, but his control
lapsed in the fourth with two outs.
Parker walked opposing pitcher Jordan Hotchkiss, then hit Felix Perez to load the bases. Jake Kahaulelio
was also hit by a pitch to drive home a run, then Costanzo ripped a grand slam to right-center, which gave the Mudcats an 8-2 lead.
The BayBears struck back with a pair in the top of the fifth as Frey doubled home Pollock. Frey scored on a knock by Josh Ford. Carolina added two against Kyler Newby with Neftali Soto doubling home Castro in the fifth. Costanzo smacked another homer in the sixth to cap off a six-RBI day.
BayBear Bits
- Pollock doubled twice in the game to tie him for the league lead with
four. His four total base-knocks upped his batting average to .391
- Paul Goldshcmidt went 2-for-4 to raise his batting average to .375.
He also leads the Southern League with four homers and eight RBI.
- Going 1-for-4 dropped Taylor Harbin's bating average to .563, but that
mark is still good enough to lead the league.
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