Despite holding a 3-1 and 4-3 lead, the Tornadoes fell for the fourth consecutive day Monday night by a 10-4 score to the New Jersey Jackals. Rookie catcher Mike Samela made his third start of the season and crushed a home run and went 2-for-2 with two walks against New Jersey. Worcester will look to end their four-game losing streak with Kevin Cooper making his first start since his gem on Thursday night (6.2 IP, 0 runs, 4 hits) against the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
Here are some quick hits from today’s Game Notes:
1. Jerod Edmondson and Brandon Pinckney have had fantastic home-stands for the Tornadoes after the team’s 14-day road trip. Edmondson has had five extra-base hits in five games thus far with a .285 (6-of-21) batting average and three home runs. Pinckney has been even better, extending his hitting streak to a team-high nine games and 25 game on-base streak, with an 8-for-22 (.363) homestand. The Tornadoes second baseman is just four games shy of tying the league-high of 29 straight games reaching base and the league-high of a 13-game hitting streak.
2. While the Jackals posted 10 runs Monday night, the majority came off the bat of a surprising player. Starting catcher and nine-hole hitter Jeff Lanning went 4-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and three runs and three RBI. Lanning came into the game with just seven extra-base hits in 25 games and raised his batting average all the way from .238 to .274.
3. Despite only being outscored by 10 runs in the first five games of their homestand (1-4), the Tornadoes have really struggled in the final three innings of their contests. Opponents have outscored Worcester in 11-5 in the final three innings, including 7-2 in the eight inning of the five games. On the season, Worcester has been outscored 45-20 in the eight innings of contest.
Worcester Tornadoes Blog 