Reggie Fills Aim Like A Video Game

The Herd scored first and last but they had to eat an 11-run poop sandwich in between. Andy Burns tripled home the first Buffalo run before stealing home on a double steal with Roemon Fields swiping second in the fifth inning. Richard Urena drove one in the painful way as he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the seventh. Reese McGuire had two hits. Fields, Alen Hanson, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Anthony Alford made a dent in the hit column but Alford whiffed three times. Cavan Biggio drew a walk. Ben Revere went 0-for-5.

Andrew Sopko blanked the Braves affiliate for the first five frames but errors by Cavan Biggio at second and Richard Urena at third produced a pair of unearned runs. Jordan Romano stranded two runners for Sopko but was roughed up for six runs in the seventh without retiring anyone. Tayler Saucedo was slapped around for three more in the seventh to match his out total. Both Romano and Saucedo had an unearned run on their ledger. Zach Jackson punched out two over two innings of one-hit ball.

RBI doubles by Brock Lundquist, Christian Williams (in his Double A debut) and Vinny Capra and a run-scoring single by Lundquist led the Fisher Cats to victory. Lundquist had a 3-for-3 day at the plate and Capra had a pair of hits. Patrick Kivlehan and Nash Knight had safeties with Knight drawing a walk. Andres Sotillo also heard ball four in his season debut. Kevin Smith and Riley Adams took one for the team but Santiago Espinal was 0-for-4.

Yennsy Diaz went the distance by allowing just two hits and four walks while ringing up a pair. He kept the infielders on their toes with 10 of his 16 outs recorded on the ground.

Nate Pearson struck out three of the six men he faced in his two-inning start. An infield pop up and two fly balls accounted for the other two outs. Willy Ortiz was the opposite of Pearson. He was walloped for seven runs (five earned) over two-thirds of an inning. William Ouellette made his Double-A debut and gave up a run in 1-1/3 innings on two hits and three walks. Jackson McClleland struck out two over two shutout frames. Bryan Barker worked a one-hit ninth.

An Alberto Mineo single in the fifth scored Riley Adams in the fifth. Adams, Chad Spanberger and Christian Williams had the other hits. Patrick Kivlehan worked a walk. Santiago Espinal, Forrest Wall and Kevin Smith went 0-for-3. Nash Knight was 0-for-2 but did make a nice sliding catch to get Ouellette out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth.

The Lugnuts managed to get the bats going early in the morning with five of their runs coming in the first two innings. Nick Podkul doubled home the first run and Ryan Gold singled home two more in the first. Otto Lopez singled in a run to start the second before being part of a double steal that saw Podkul swipe home. Gold would drive in what turned out to be the winning run with a run-scoring knock in the sixth. He had a perfect day at the dish as he also took one for the team to reach base four times. Reggie Pruitt tripled, doubled, singled, scored three times and stole a pair of bases to take the Midwest League lead in steals with 13. Podkul also swiped a pair. Jake Brodt, Hagen Danner and Tanner Kirwer also had base hits. McGregory Contreras walked but Rafael Lantigua was 0-for-4.

Josh Hiatt struggled with his control by giving up two hits and four walks that led to two runs over two frames while whiffing one. Marcus Reyes scattered three hits over three shutout innings to earn his first Midwest League victory. Juan De Paula was jolted for three runs on three hits and three walks over 1-1/3 innings. Sean Rackoski stranded the bases loaded for De Paula and pitched 2-2/3 scoreless innings for the save. He racked up three strikeouts and three groundouts.