The Aberdeen IronBirds have picked up where they left off last year, starting the 2015 season with four straight losses.
The latest loss came Monday on the road at Vermont, where the Lake Monsters pounded the IronBirds, 9-1, in a game of previous winless teams.
Through five innings the game was tied 1-1, but that all changed when Vermont sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six runs in its half of the sixth.
Iolana Akau and Skye Bolt fueled the game-changing rally with back-to-back home runs off Aberdeen starter Zach Albin to lead off the inning. Albin then allowed a single, forcing him from the game. Through five innings, Albin allowed five hits, four runs (three earned) and a walk. He struck out two.
Aberdeen reliever Daniel Ayers gave up three hits, three walks and five earned runs in an inning of work. Keegan Ghidotti tossed two innings of scoreless relief.
Offensively, Aberdeen was limited to three singles, by Cedric Mullins, Steve Laurino and Mike Odenwaelder. Tad Gold drew a pair of walks and scored the IronBirds lone run in the third inning when Drew Turbin reached on a throwing error.
Homestand isn't kind
With losses Saturday and Sunday, the IronBirds were swept by the Hudson Valley Renegades to open the season. The Renegades also swept the IronBirds to begin last season, when the IronBirds started 1-16.
Saturday's loss, a 2-1, 15-inning affair, was finished Sunday, prior to that day's regularly scheduled contest. The game was halted by lightning Saturday evening in the seventh inning.
In that game, the IronBirds led for the first time this season, scoring a run in their first at bat. Ademar Rifaela singled with two outs and scored on Ronarsy Ledesma's RBI triple.
The Renegades scored their first run in the third on a pair doubles off Aberdeen starter Travis Seabrooke. Seabrooke worked five and a third innings, allowing just three hits and the earned run. He walked two and struck out six.
The IronBirds used five pitchers (14 Ks) with Kevin Grendell taking the loss in three innings of work. Grendell gave up a pair of singles in his third inning on the mound. A wild pitch aided in the winning run scoring.
Hudson Valley also used five pitchers, with Michael Velasquez collecting the win. He also pitched three innings, giving up four hits.
Drew Turbin and Steve Laurino had two hits to pace the IronBirds' eight-hit attack.
In Sunday's scheduled game, which was limited to seven innings because of Saturday's spillover, Aberdeen was soundly defeated, 9-1.
The Renegades put up crooked numbers in four of seven at-bats, scoring two in the first, fourth and fifth innings, before ending with a three-run sixth. The winners pounded Aberdeen pitching for 13 hits, seven for extra bases, including Alex Schmidt's first homer of the season, a two-run shot to right field in the sixth.
Aberdeen starter Francisco Jimenez took the loss, allowing seven hits and four earned runs over four innings. Yi-Hsiang Lin and Max Homick both saw action in relief.
Offensively, Aberdeen had hits by seven different players. Turbin had the lone extra-base hit, a double, while Alexander Lee scored the 'Birds only run in the fifth inning. Lee hit the first of three Aberdeen singles in the inning and scored when Turbin grounded into a double play.
Opening night loss
The Aberdeen IronBirds opened with a loss Friday night after taking the field at Ripken Stadium for the start of their 2015 season in front of an announced attendance of 5,046.
Despite nine hits, the IronBirds were limited two a pair of late unearned runs in a 7-2 season opening New York-Penn League loss to the Hudson Valley Renegades.
The opener couldn't have gotten off to a tougher start for Aberdeen, which didn't win a game last year until July.
"No, not really what we were expecting on opening day, but I believe Cosme was throwing the ball good until the guy hit a home run," IronBirds Manager Luis Pujols said about the start.
Hudson Valley sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring four times off Aberdeen starter and loser Jean Cosme. Cosme lasted four and two-third innings.
Michael Russell, the Renegades shortstop, had the home run Pujols eluded to, pounding an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for a quick 2-0 lead. "He hit a pitch down in the zone, it was a good swing and he hit the ball good," Pujols said.
Taylor Hawkins singled and scored, while Nic Wilson and Cade Gotta added RBI singles in the inning for the visitors. If not for a diving stop and put-out at first by Aberdeen shortstop Guillermo Salas, the inning might have been worse.
The Renegades chased Cosme in the fifth. A leadoff walk to Angel Moreno led to a fifth run when Manuel Sanchez doubled into the left-center field gap.
Aberdeen lefty Tanner Scott, a sixth round pick by Baltimore in 2014, came on in relief. He walked the first batter he faced and then gave up an RBI single to Hector Montes, plating Sanchez with the sixth run. All six runs, all earned, were charged to Cosme.
Scott allowed the Renegades final run in the seventh. Russell, a fifth round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2014, belted a leadoff double and then scored on an Montes two-out single.
Aberdeen had no answer for Renegades starter, Yonny Chirinos. The 6-3, 220-pound right hander, shut the IronBirds out on four hits through five innings. Chirinos walked a batter and hit another, but Aberdeen just couldn't push a run across.
The IronBirds had the leadoff batter on base in four of the five innings against Chirinos, but came away with nothing to show for it.
Ronarsy Ledesma, Jerry McClanahan and Cedric Mullins each had two hits for Aberdeen. Mullins also had the walk and hit batsmen against Chirinos.
The IronBirds finally broke through in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Justin McCalvin. What should have been the game's final out, was a fly ball dropped, when Russell and third baseman Montes bumped into each other on the outfield edge of the dirt.
Ricardo Andujar, who hit the pop-up, then scored on a Mullins double, the IronBirds only extra-base hit. "I just felt real comfortable in the box, looking for a pitch to hit and I was able to drive it," Mullins said.
Mullins scored the IronBirds second run on Drew Turbin's RBI single, before McCalvin got Randy Gassaway to fly out to right field.
"It was a rough start in the first inning, kept the errors to zero and we played pretty well all together and I feel like that's a good sign for tomorrow and throughout the season," Mullins said.
The IronBirds did play error-free baseball behind their pitchers. Turbin highlighted the defense with an four unassisted, 4-3 double play to get the IronBirds out of trouble in the sixth inning.