Williamsport, P.A. – Crosscutters right-hander Gustavo Armas continued a string of solid starts as he tossed seven shutout frames en route to his first win as Williamsport blanks Auburn 4-0.
Gustavo Armas saw his second pitch of the game laced into right-center for a lead off single off of the bat of Gabe Canning. But Armas got a little help from his battery mate, Rafael Marchan, completing the strike’em out-throw’em out double play to clear the bases in a scoreless first.
After a one-out double by Isreal Pineda, it was Armas’ defense that came up big as third basemen Seth Lancaster made a fine diving stop and a strong throw to retire Cody Wilson in a scoreless second inning.
Armas, who had a very economical night on the mound worked around a two-out single in a scoreless third inning and then worked a perfect frame in a scoreless forth inning, utilizing his defense for two of the three outs.
The Cutters starter induced numerous ground balls throughout his outing, which helped him work around a two-out single in the top of the fifth inning. In all, Armas induced nine ground ball outs in his outing.
After Jonathan Guzman collected a lead off base hit in the bottom of the 5th inning, and advancing to 2nd base on a productive ground out by Lenin Rodriguez, Edwin Rodriguez scored Guzman with a RBI single to left to give the Crosscutters a 1-0 lead.
Armas recorded his second perfect inning of work in the top of the 6th inning, retiring the DoubleDays in order. To which the Cutters offense responded to help their hurler.
With Rafael Marchan on 3rd base, Danny Mayer drilled a Trey Turner offering 413 feet over the wall in left-center for his first home run of the season, advancing the Williamsport lead to 3-0 in the bottom half of the 6th and giving Mayer his 3rd and 4th RBI of the season.
Jonathan Guzman later in the inning, scored Seth Lancaster with a RBI single off of reliever Jhonathan German to make it a 4-0 Cutters lead. It was the first RBI of the season for the Williamsport shortstop.
Armas finished his night, working around a throwing error in the top of the seventh inning, picking up his seventh strikeout in the process.
Randy Alcantara entered in relief in the top of the eighth inning and would allow just one base runner, on a base hit over two shutout innings to close out the game and the win for Armas and the Crosscutters.
The Crosscutters wrap up their three-game set against the Auburn DoubleDays tomorrow night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. At BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
Cutter Carvings – Jonathan Guzman started the season 0 for 13 before his 5th inning single… Edwin Rodriguez is 5 for 7 with two doubles and two RBI in the first two games of this series… The seven innings was the longest outing for Armas in a Crosscutters uniform…