|
For a team with only four home runs heading into its July 7 tilt with Tri-City, the Hudson Valley Renegades and their fans experienced a veritable power surge.
On an oppressively hot and humid Monday afternoon at Dutchess Stadium, the Renegades got back-to-back first inning home runs by outfielders Jason Corder and Kyeong Kang which proved to be the difference in a 5-2 victory that lifted Hudson Valley’s record to one game over the .500 mark at 11-10. The win also meant that the Renegades took the rubber game of the three-game set with Tri-City.
It looked like it might be a long day at the ballpark for Renegades fans, when in the top of the first inning, Tri-City grabbed a 1-0 lead following a leadoff double down the third base line by center fielder Jack Shuck and an RBI Texas League single that dropped between centerfielder Kang and leftfielder Jason Reynolds. However, a bigger inning was short circuited when catcher Tyler Hauschild threw out Shuck, attempting a stolen base, at second.
In the bottom of the inning, a one-out error by shortstop Jeff Hulett, allowing Anthony Scelfo to reach base, proved to be the gateway to a big inning for the home team. Following the error, rightfielder Jason Tweedy singled to set up Corder against Tri-City starter Robert Bono.
“He left a slider that just stayed up in the zone. I knew right off the bat that it was gone,” said Corder.
With a .343 average coming into the game, the three-run round-tripper was a towering shot that sailed past the left-fielder scoreboard and the woods beyond, perhaps taking a few stray branches along with it.
The homer seemed to momentarily stun the crowd, which has not seen much power hitting from the speed-oriented Renegades. If the Corder home run was unexpected than the next batter, Kang delivered an even bigger surprise, launching a moon shot that Shuck waited to come down in play but never did, landing over the high wall in right-centerfield.
Hudson Valley starter John Bard, who worked with runners on base in each of his three innings, worked his way out of trouble, allowing only the lone run in the first inning. In the second inning, following a misplayed fly ball by leftfielder Reynolds that allowed designated hitter Michael Diaz to advance to second, Baird hit rightfielder Daniel Meier with a pitch to put runners on first and second, but the right-hander bore down and proceeded to strike out leftfielder Marques Williams and induce a groundout from Shuck to get out of the inning unscathed.
Relieving Baird in the fourth inning was knuckleballer Diego Echeverria, who pitched 2-and-two-thirds innings allowing only an unearned run in the fifth, when a passed ball by Hauschild allowed Tri-City to advance runners to second and third, before a fielder’s choice by David Flores allowed Hulett to score.
The Renegades got an insurance run in bottom of the eighth, when Corder laced an RBI double, scoring Robi Estrada and booting the Renegades’ lead to 5-2 with his fourth RBI.
“It feels good. I was going through a little bit of a slump the last few days and I changed my approach at the plate. I’m seeing the ball a lot better now,” said Corder.
Echeverria passed the baton to Travis Risser in the sixth and the tall right-hander worked a scoreless two-and-a-third innings to get the Renegades to the final frame with the lead intact.
Matt Gorgen then pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save. The win snapped a three-game skid for Hudson Valley. Echeverria recorded the win to lift his record to 2-0.
