The Chillicothe Mudcats fell in a close, low-scoring game to the Joplin Jailbirds on Friday evening at Shaffer Park in Chillicothe, the first home game in six days for the Mudcats.
The Jailbirds went scoreless in the top half of the first inning, and the Mudcats grabbed a quick lead in the bottom half of the first. Slater Hooke doubled down the right field line to begin the inning, and two batters later, Jordi Ventura blistered a triple into the left-center field gap to score Hooke, and make it 1-0 Mudcats after an inning of play. Also, the third straight ball game the Mudcats have recorded a first inning run.
After that Mudcat run, it was a defensive battle, and pitchers duel through the middle innings. Both starting pitchers on Friday night had great performances. Koby Wagers for Chillicothe, and Gabe Perry for Joplin
The game stayed as a 1-0 Mudcat lead through five innings of play at Shaffer Park.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Jailbirds finally found the scoreboard. Shadrach Salazar singled up the middle scoring Elijah Charlot to tie the ballgame up at one run a piece. That score stayed true through six innings.
In the top of the seventh, the Jailbirds put themselves in front of the Mudcats for the rest of the night. An Elijah Charlot RBI single scoring Jordan Tucker gave Joplin the lead by a score of 2-1, and Charlot scored later on a passed ball to make it 3-1 Joplin.
That was all the exercise the scoreboard would see for the rest of the evening, and the Jailbirds take down the Mudcats by a final score of 3-1.
Gabe Perry went seven innings, giving up one run and striking out six for Joplin in the win. Koby Wagers goes five and two-thirds on the mound giving up one run and striking out four, he did not factor in the decision. Logan Arbuckle takes the loss for the Mudcats on the mound, going three and a third in relief giving up a pair of runs.
Chillicothe falls to 2-12 on the season, and lose for the third straight game.
The Mudcats are back home on Saturday evening for game two of a quick two-game series with Joplin, first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Shaffer Park.