Spinners Outpitch IronBirds, 3-1

The pitching on Sunday night kept any fireworks to a minimum in Lowell’s 3-1 victory over Aberdeen.  The lone spark came in the fifth inning when Sean Killeen drilled a pitch from Tim Adleman over the left field wall to break a 0-0 tie.

Adleman (0-1, 2.51) had his longest outing as a pro in the game, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three, and striking out seven.  He left in the sixth inning after allowing a single from shortstop Joantoni Garcia to score centerfielder Felix Sanchez and put Lowell ahead 2-0.

“I thought I did all right tonight,” Adleman said. “I struggled with my command a little bit.  I thought I had a couple too many walks.  They didn’t come back to hurt me directly, but I ran the pitch count up a little bit and unfortunately two runs were too much.”

“He threw the ball good,” manager Gary Kendall said. “He made pitches when he had to.”

Lowell’s Madison Younginer had a superb outing, pitching five shutout innings and allowing only two hits and walk while striking out four IronBirds.  Using an over-the-top delivery, Younginer (2-2, 3.63) flummoxed Aberdeen’s big bats, holding the one through five batters in the lineup to a combined 1-for-10 evening.  The only hit came when leftfielder Kipp Schutz singled in the fourth, but he was later caught stealing, wiping him from the basepaths.  Younginer’s fastball was consistently in the low 90 mph range, topping out at 94 mph.

“[Sunday was] one of the first times we’ve faced a guy [Younginer] with a good arm and a good angle on his fastball,” manager Gary Kendall said. “He just had a lot of fastball for a some of our guys and we just couldn’t put nothing on him.”

“I feel like we were getting ourselves out a lot of the time,” centerfielder Trent Mummey said. “I think we could have been a little bit more patient and that would have helped us out.”

Second baseman Omar Casamayor, who entered the game leading the New York-Penn League in batting average at .410 and was on a five-game hit streak, had an off-night, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning.  Casamayor’s batting average fell to .372.

On Casamayor, Kendall said, “I’m going to give him a mulligan for tonight.”

Mummey, coming off a game Saturday night at Hudson Valley where he went 4-for-5 with a double, home run, two RBIs, and three runs scored, was one of the bright spots for Aberdeen, going 2-for-4 with a stolen base.  For the season, Mummey is batting .325.

“It’s nice to get caught up,” Mummey said. “We kind of caught fire there for a little bit the last game. It was nice.  I’ve just been working a little bit more in the cages.”

The IronBirds (7-10) attempted to mount a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning off Spinners (5-12) reliever Charle Rosario as third baseman Adam Gaylord and rightfielder Jeremy Nowak reached base on a one out single and a walk.  After catcher Austin Goolsby struck out, both runners advanced a base after a Rosario wild pitch.  But designated hitter Austin Rauch could not come through, flying out to left, ending the inning and stranding Gaylord and Nowak on base.

The IronBirds did add a late run in the bottom of the ninth off Rosario.  Schutz singled to lead off the inning and scored two batters later when Gaylord doubled to left-center, cutting the lead to 3-1.  Gaylord advanced to third when Nowak grounded out, but Goolsby struck out to end the game.

Gaylord and Schutz continued consistent hitting seasons as both batters went 2-for-4.  Gaylord is batting .306 while Schutz is batting .368 for the year.

Adleman’s pitching was able to frustrate some of the big, young bats in Lowell’s lineup.  The Spinners’ three and four hitters, third baseman Kolbrin Vitek and rightfielder Bryce Brentz, were both first round picks of the Boston Red Sox in this year’s MLB Draft.  But Vitek went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and Brentz was 0-for-3, reaching on a walk in the sixth inning.

Game two of the three game set is Monday night at 7:05 p.m.  Bruno Sanchez (0-1, 9.00) gets the start for the IronBirds against Tyler Wilson (0-1, 4.05) of the Spinners.  Boston Red Sox shortstop Jed Lowrie, who has missed the entire 2010 season due to illness, will make his first rehab appearance of the season at Ripken Stadium Monday night.  Lowrie is expected to DH for seven innings in the game.