The Chillicothe Mudcats continued their impressive hot streak as of late on Tuesday night, as they picked up their fifth straight home league win by beating the Clarinda A’s for the first time, 6-5. It broke a five game losing streak against Clarinda for the Mudcats, and it was Chillicothe’s fourth win of the season by one run.
The Mudcats have now won three straight MINK League games for the first time since late May. The game was tight throughout, and Clarinda tried to mount a comeback late. In the top of the ninth inning, Brennan Kettle took the mound for the Mudcats. With Chillicothe leading by one, he got the first two batters out, but then gave up a Whitby pitch a d a single and suddenly the A’s were threatening, with runners on second and third base.
Kettle faced Luke Spencer next, and he struck Spencer out to secure a statement win for the Mudcats. Here’s the call of Kettle’s final pitch, as heard live on KCHI.
It was Brennan’s second save of the season, both saves being six out saves as well. Kettle has now registered 24 strikeouts in 17.2 innings of work out of the bullpen this year, more strikeouts than any other reliever in the MINK League.
Chillicothe took the lead in the bottom of the first, when John Spoto hit a second RBI triple in as many days to open the scoring, The next batter, Drew Sanidad, brought in Spoto on a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0 in the Mudcats’ favor.
Clarinda would take their only lead of the game in the top of the second, scoring three runs on two hits. They loaded the bases on Chillicothe starting pitcher Jordan Marlott with nobody out, and all three runs would eventually score to give Clarinda a 3-2 lead. Marlott would eventually come away with his first win of the season, as those three runs would be all the scoring he would allow in five strong innings as the starting pitcher.
Chillicothe would respond with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second, starting the inning with four consecutive singles. They used RBI base hits from Elian Guzman and Jackson Crawford, and a sacrifice fly RBI from John Spoto to take a 5-3 lead. However, the Mudcats left the bases loaded in the frame, and could have scored more runs.
Chillicothe then scored a crucial unearned run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Drew Sanidad, after John Spoto reached on an error from a routine ground ball that was hit Clarinda’s Evan Smallwood. That would be the last inning of work for Clarinda’s Jose Calcano. The brother of Mudcats shortstop Rafael Calcano worked his shortest start of the season, and was credited with his first loss of the year at the end of the night.
Later in the game the A’s started to make a comeback, scoring one run each in the sixth and seventh innings to make it a one run ballgame, using three extra base hits in those frames to put the score at 6-5. Luckily for the Mudcats, Brennan Kettle slammed the door in the eighth and ninth innings, becoming the first Mudcats pitcher this season to secure multiple saves. Chillicothe has now been successful in all three of their save attempts at home this season.
Chillicothe now moves to 18-20 overall this season, and 16-19 in the MINK League. They are tied for fourth place in the league standings. In addition, with the Clarinda loss, the St. Joseph Mustangs were mathematically confirmed as the MINK League regular season champions, and will be the number one overall seed in the MINK League postseason. The A’s still sit in second place, but are only a 1.5 games ahead of third placed Jefferson City going into the final few games.
Chillicothe’s magic number is now down to 1, with five regular season games left to play. The Mudcats can clinch a postseason spot tonight as they attempt to beat the St. Joseph Mustangs for the first time this season. First pitch from Shaffer Park in the final home regular season game is at 7:05 p.m.. Be make sure to catch every single exciting moment of Mudcats baseball down the stretch live on KCHI and on KCHI.com.
