The Chillicothe Mudcats’ great recent form continued on Monday night, with a 16-7 victory over the defending MINK League Champions, the Jefferson City Renegades, at Shaffer Park. It was the fourth home win for the Mudcats, and the 16 runs scored was the second most in a game this season.
Chillicothe actually started this game in a hole, as Mudcats starter Sungbin Park struggled early, giving up four runs on one hit in the top of the first inning. Park walked three batters in the inning, and also hit three batters with separate pitchers. It allowed the Renegades to jump out to a 4-0 lead, and it would be the only inning that Park pitched.
Chillicothe started the climb back in the bottom half of the first. A 2-run single with two outs from Jorey Anderson cut the deficit in half, and made it 4-2. That hit would bring in two of Anderson’s four RBIs on the night, a single game high for him this season.
Both teams would score one run each in the second inning, with the Mudcats run coming on a Peyton Becker RBI single. That base hit scored Alex Loman, who got on base with a double of his own.
With the score at 5-3, Chillicothe tagged on another run in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to one. After John Spoto got on with a leadoff triple, Hunter Shoulta would bring him in with a groundout.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Mudcats exploded for six runs on six hits, knocking out Renegades ace Byler Reither in the process. RBIs from Becker, Spoto, and Anderson again helped the Mudcats take a 10-5 lead, turning a one run deficit into a five run lead. Eight of the nine Mudcats hitters reached safely in the inning.
Chillicothe would score one run in the sixth on an Anderson RBI double, two runs in the seventh on a Julio Guerrero single, and three more runs, on RBIs from Jackson Crawford and Spoto, in the eighth inning, to build a comfortable. Even two runs from Jefferson City in the top of the eighth inning couldn’t trouble the Mudcats, as they coasted to the victory.
Chillicothe even had chances in both the seventh and eighth innings to win the game in run rule fashion, but never extended their lead to double digits. Justin Schnell would pitch a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up a fantastic night for the Mudcats.
Chillicothe finished with 16 runs on 16 hits, and five different Mudcats finished with multi hit games. Layne Rutherford picked up his third win of the season, pitching six innings of strong relief after Sungbin Park was pulled following the tough first inning. Rutherford is the first pitcher for the Mudcats this season to pick up the win in three different games.
The big victory makes Chillicothe 15-18 on the season, and 13-18 in MINK League play. The Mudcats now take sole possession of fifth place in the MINK League standings due to other results. They’ve now won six out of their last eight contests, and have taken two out of three games against the Renegades this season.
The Mudcats will now look to win the season series against the Renegades by picking up a win in the state capital on the road tomorrow. Weather permitting, the game is expected to begin at 7:00 p.m. at Vision Field in Jefferson City. Stay tuned for all the latest updates for Mudcats baseball this season by listening live to KCHI and kchi.com
