A night after the Aberdeen IronBirds came home to shut out the Auburn Doubledays, the visitors turned the tables on the home team Thursday and posted a shutout of their own in New York-Penn League play.
Auburn (5-2) scored a pair of early runs and added a pair late to beat Aberdeen (2-5), 4-0, on Military Appreciation Night at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium. The attendance was 3,912.
Doubledays leadoff man Blake Perkins was the main problem for Aberdeen pitching, going 4-for-5 with a run scored and three RBIs. Perkins led off the game with a single and scored when Ryan Ripken grounded into a fielder's choice.
Auburn added a run in the second with two outs. Angelo La Bruna doubled for the Doubledays lone extra-base hit. Perkins singled him in.
Aberdeen meanwhile, was stymied by Auburn pitcher Tyler Watson. He shut down the Aberdeen bats on three hits and a pair of walks over five innings to collect the win.
Watson showed a little defense from the mound in the fourth to keep Aberdeen off the scoreboard. After giving up singles to Ronarsy Ledesma and Chris Shaw to open the inning, Watson retired the next three batters. The third, Chris Clare, hit a line drive that seemed destined for center field. Watson, though, jumped and snagged the ball for the final out.
Auburn tacked on two more runs, both unearned, in the seventh to close out the scoring.
Travis Seabrooke (1-1) pitched six innings in taking the loss. He allowed five hits and two earned runs, while striking out one. Max Knutson had the tough luck in the seventh and recorded two outs before giving way to Hi-Ysiang Lin who pitched the final two and a third innings scoreless.
Austin Hays had two hits to pace the Aberdeen six-hit attack.
Aberdeen and Auburn will close out the series Friday night at Ripken Stadium. Game time is 7:05 p.m. and fireworks will light up the sky about 15 minutes after the final out.