BANDITS DROP A HEARTBREAKER TO BITE
Brisbane loses second game against Adelaide
The Brisbane Bandits dropped the second game of their four-game set 6-5 against the Adelaide Bite on Friday in Round 7 of Australian Baseball League action.
Brisbane’s Italian ace Alex Maestri got into a hole that his team’s offense couldn’t get him out of, giving up two home runs in an uncharacteristically tough night for the righty.
The Bandits got off to an early start in the bottom of the first, courtesy of an RBI-single from Josh Roberts, but the hometown team couldn’t hold their lead long.Maestri (2-2) first showed signs of trouble in the second inning, allowing runners to first and third with one out to face Matthew Smith. Smith hit his first homer of the year, a three-run shot to left field. Though the Italian Stallion got through the rest of the inning, his woes continued into the third.After walking to open the frame, Chin-lung Hu moved to third on a groundout and a wild pitch. Denny Almonte brought him in with an RBI-single before Maestri could close out the inning, giving the Bite a 4-1 lead.Adelaide added to that lead in the fifth, as Denny Almonte launched his sixth home run of the year to right field, a solo shot. Maestri made it through a scoreless sixth before being relieved by lefty Trent Baker.
The Italian right-hander went six innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits, walking one and striking out five.Brisbane appeared to get to Bite starter Paul Mildren in the sixth inning as it cut into the Bite lead. Brad Dutton hit his first long ball of the year, a two-run homer to left, to bring the Bandits within two.Baker didn’t fare much better than his starting counterpart in his one inning of work. The southpaw allowed an additional run on two hits with two strikeouts in his frame.
The Bandits started a rally in the bottom of the seventh against Adelaide’s Wayne Ough, on in relief of Mildren. Wade Dutton was issued a free pass to opening the inning, followed by a hit-by-pitch to Kevin Hoef. That brought Keiji Nakahara to the plate, a power threat after hitting three home runs over his last three games. Nakahara laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving both runners into scoring position. That set up a groundout-RBI for Ayatsugu Yamashita and an RBI-single for Brad Dutton to bring the Bandits to within one.
That’s how the game would end though as the Bandits couldn’t mount another rally in the ninth. Ryan Beckman recorded his fifth save of the season with 2 1/3 innings of relief, giving up one hit, walking one and striking out one.Mildren (2-2) completed six frames, giving up three earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts on the night.The back end of the Bandits bullpen looked strong, as Simon Morriss and Chris Lamb finished out the final two innings, striking out three batters combined.