SPORTS	Vindy Basic

Mahoning Valley fell behind early, allowing three runs in the first inning.

By STEVE MYRICK

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LOWELL, Mass. — The pitching staff was a whiffing machine, but the Scrappers' struggling offense could not make up for a shaky first inning from starter Richard De Los Santos.

As a result, Mahoning Valley lost to Lowell Spinners, 4-1, on Wednesday in a Class A game at LeLacheur Park.

Scrappers hurlers combined for 14 strikeouts and allowed only one unearned run over the last eight innings.

"You can't ask for much more," Scrappers manager Mike Sarbaugh said.

Hard-throwing Spinner

The Mahoning Valley hitters, coming off an 11-0 thrashing Tuesday at Auburn, ran into a Venezuelan buzzsaw named Anibal Sanchez, throwing heat measured well into glove-popping range by several radar guns.

"He was throwing 94-95 [miles per hour] with a pretty good breaking ball," Sarbaugh said. "We were up against a pretty good pitcher tonight.

"The last three or four games, we just get off to a slow start offensively," Sarbaugh said. "We've got to do a better job of putting some hits together early in the game, putting a little more pressure on their defense."

The Scrappers dug themselves a deep hole in the first inning, beginning with an infield hit to lead off hitter Mat Van Der Bosch. After a walk, De Los Santos yielded two solid singles, and Mahoning Valley was behind 3-0.

Settled down

De Los Santos, a right hander from the Dominican Republic, came back in the second inning to strike out the side, and settled into a strong rhythm through five innings of work.

He used a hard slider and an effective change-up to notch a total of nine strikeouts, while allowing only one more hit after the rocky initial stanza.

"The first inning, I was a little shy," De Los Santos said. "I came back in the second inning and threw strikes, got some groundballs."

In his debut outing for the Scrappers, Mark Jecman replaced De Los Santos to begin the sixth inning.

"His first time, professionally, he really did well under terrific pressure," Sarbaugh said.

The 6-foot-8 Californian kept the strikeout train rolling, sending three of the eight Spinners batters he faced back to the bench muttering.

"I was pretty nervous," said Jecman, who relies on his curve and slider to get hitters out. "I just tried to focus on throwing the ball where I need to, it felt pretty good."

Scrappers score

The Scrappers finally got on the board when Wyatt Toregas singled to lead off the eighth inning, then advanced to second when the Lowell first baseman failed to handle the throw from third base.

Jose Cruz then hit a hard grounder to the left side, just out of the reach of lunging third baseman Andrew Pinckney.

Shortstop Jason Ramos got to the ball deep in the hole, but then had to race Toregas to the third base bag. Toregas dodged the tag, reaching third safely, in a call mildly disputed by the Spinner infielders.

Cruz reached first on the fielder's choice. Toregas scored when Argenis Reyes bounced into a double play.

Threaten in ninth

Mahoning Valley staged a promising rally in the top of the ninth. Mike Butia drew a walk.

After Teodoro Encarnacion lined hard to center for an out, Chris Gimenez belted a double to set the Scrappers up with runners on first and third with one out.

The rally fizzled, however, when Ferdinand Pacheco struck out, and Toreagas came up just short in a dive to first base, trying beat out a ground ball that would have scored another run.

The Scrappers have lost four straight, after opening the season with two wins, and rank last in the New York-Penn League for runs scored. Still, Sarbaugh sees some positive things in the late inning rally.

"If we can have that mentality early in the game, start putting some things together, we'll be fine," Sarbaugh said.

"It shows character, you don't give up, you keep slugging away, keep going. You gotta keep going."

De Los Santos (0-1) took the loss for Mahoning Valley, while Sanchez (1-1) gets credit for the victory.

Dan Cevette (0-0) is the scheduled starter for the Scrappers (2-4) when they face Lowell (3-3) again this evening, the middle game in the three game set. Harvey Garcia (0-0) will start for the Spinners.