The Chillicothe Mudcats dropped a second consecutive contest on a hot Monday night, losing at Shaffer Park to the Clarinda A’s by a final score of 13-6.
It was a night where both teams were offensively potent, as 19 total runs were scored, and there were 28 total hits, 14 for each team. Both teams could have also plated more runs, as 24 total runners were left on base, 12 for each team.
Clarinda took the lead in the top of the second inning, with two crucial RBI singles by Khi Holiday and Joey Caruso, both with two outs in the inning, helped Clarinda score four runs in the frame.
The Mudcats responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the second, using a balk by the A’s starting pitcher, Steve Spurgeon Jr., and a sacrifice fly RBI by Nathan Cupp to cut Clarinda’s lead in half, making in 4-2.
The A’s would quickly restore their big advantage by scoring two runs in the fourth, and four runs in the fifth inning, with four hits in both of those innings to help them take control of the game with a 10-2 lead.
The Mudcats would get some of those runs back in the second half of the game, as Peyton Becker’s sacrifice fly scored Rafael Calcano, who got on base with a leadoff triple, in the bottom of the fifth. The Mudcats got two more runs on RBI base hits from Tanner Sears and John Spoto to make it 10-5 in the seventh.
Both teams traded runs in the eighth inning, with the Mudcats scoring their run in the bottom half of the frame with another RBI single from Sears. Then, Clarinda shut down any hopes of a Chillicothe comeback by scoring two unearned runs in the ninth inning, as Chillicothe’s infield committed three fielding errors in the frame.
Chillicothe now falls to 9-14 overall, and 8-14 in the MINK League season, but still sit in sixth place in the MINK League standings, meaning they are in a playoff position. Clarinda wins their ninth game in their last ten matchups, and now owns a perfect 4-0 record against the Mudcats this season.
Chillicothe will look to break that unfortunate streak after an off day on Tuesday, when they travel to face Clarinda on the road for the second time this season on Wednesday night. First pitch from Eberly Field in Clarinda, Iowa, is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and you can catch every pitch of that game and ever Chillicothe Mudcats game in the 2024 season on KCHI and on kchi.com
