A leadoff home run and yet another dominating start by the rehabbing Alex Troop were not enough to put the Doubledays over the Black Bears on Wednesday afternoon. West Virginia came out on top of the pitching duel, narrowly escaping a late Auburn push and sneaking away with a 2-1 win.
Sanfler was one of only two Doubledays batters with multiple hits on Wednesday, with his second hit coming in the third when he ripped a one-out single. Auburn had its chances to make substantial noise in the game, but the inability to string together hits inevitably led to its downfall. The Doubledays ended the game with nine runners left on base, up from only two the night before.
Black Bears starter Jesus Valles navigated his way past five hits – one of them Sanfler’s leadoff home run – before handing the ball off to Cameron Junker, who ended up collecting the win.
Troop, on the other hand, was near perfect as he continues his rehab assignment. He threw four scoreless innings and allowed only one hit en route to maintaining his 0.00 ERA. But while the Doubledays’ relief pitchers fared fairly well on Wednesday, Auburn’s quiet offense didn’t allow for any mistakes to be made. Tyler Yankosky allowed a single run in his two innings of work, and Amos Willingham – who got hit with the loss – also allowed a run over two frames.
LISTEN: The Doubledays were oh-so-close to ing up a sweep of the West Virginia Black s, but the comeback effort fell just short. Find out who left the ️ and who flashed the leather with @JDRaucci & @jack_mcmullen11. https://t.co/4IDtgoxywE
— Auburn Doubledays (@Doubledays) July 3, 2019
The Doubledays appeared to be in running for their third come-from-behind win in as many days when Phil Caulfield walked to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning. Caulfield, however, could not capitalize and popped out to the third baseman. Sanfler grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
Check out the post game show recap with Claudia Bellofatto & Jack McMullen…
The Doubledays will be back in action Thursday to start their four-game series against the Batavia Muckdogs at 7 pm. Listen live on FingerLakes1.com Radio.
By Chris Valentino Tril
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