Brockton tops Bangor on unearned runs

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ORONO – The Bangor Lumberjacks made it a nail-biter Wednesday night, but two unearned runs were just too much to overcome as they left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and Brockton walked off the field with a 4-3 victory.

Closer Conor Brooks increased his Northeast League-leading saves total to 14 with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, although he did have to escape a last-inning jam on another humid night at Mahaney Diamond to do so.

Recently re-signed outfielder Edwin Thompson led off the ninth with a single and pinch hitter Mark Burke also singled. Sandy Martinez then bunted them both over, so Brooks intentionally walked leadoff man Schuyler Doakes. Nick Saunders then pinch hit for Brad Hargreaves and worked the count full after falling behind 0-2, but Brooks struck him out.

That left things to Donnie Ross, who struck out on a 2-2 fastball.

“We should have won this ballgame, but if we win like I think we’re going to, we can make some ground up on Quebec and go from there, but we have to play better baseball,” said pitcher-coach Kevin Pincavitch, who was acting manager with Kash Beauchamp away attending a funeral.”

Brockton moves to 12-10 after taking three of four from 9-13 Bangor.

“This is huge because we’re playing [north division leader] Quebec six of the next nine games,” said Rox manager Ed Nottle. “The difference is our hitting, which has probably picked up 15 points in average the last two or three weeks.”

Brockton scored two runs in the top of the first as Nestor Smith and Brown led off with singles. Smith was thrown out by Hargreaves while attempting to steal second, but Brown scored on a mammoth blast to dead center by Saul Bustos.

The Rox tacked on another run in the second on a leadoff double by Jake Daubert, an error on a pickoff throw, and a one-out sacrifice fly by Smith. Daubert scored from third despite a strong throw from center fielder Doakes to Hargreaves on the fly and a tag that Daubert somehow eluded.

Bangor tied it up in the third. Sandy Martinez and Schuyler Doakes singled to start things off. One out later, Donnie Ross was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Juan LeBron drilled a first-pitch fastball to the gap in right-center to score two runs and Lorenzo de la Cruz brought Ross home with a single to left-center.

Brockton scored an unearned run in the fourth to go ahead 4-3. Francisco Matos led off with a single to right to extend his team-best hitting streak to 14 games, stole second, and scored on a two-out fielding error by Martinez at shortstop.

Brown went 3-for-4 for the Rox.

“Our pitching picked us up with Chad Ward and Brooks, but yeah, it helps having us hit better now,” Brown said. “I was inconsistent, hitting-wise, early, but the last couple weeks have been much better.”

Bangor starter John Vigue (4-6) allowed nine hits in 8 1/3 innings, but walked none and settled down after the first.

Game notes: Jay native Thompson made a triumphant return to the Lumberjacks as he singled in his first at-bat and went 2-for-4 after being given the start in right field. His start came hours after being re-signed by Bangor two weeks after he was released by the team.

ROX 4, LUMBERJACKS 3

Brockton (13-11) Bangor (10-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, cf 3 0 1 1 Doakes, cf 4 1 0

Brown, rf 4 1 3 0 Hargreaves, c 4 0 0

Bustos, ss 3 1 1 2 b-Saunders 1 0 0

Torres, 2b 4 0 0 0 Ross, 1b 4 1 0

Lewis, 1b 4 0 1 0 LeBron, lf 3 0 2

Matos, dh 4 1 2 0 de la Cruz, dh 4 0 1

Rosario, c 3 0 0 0 Brock, 3b 4 0 0

Daubert, 3b 4 1 1 0 Thompson, rf 4 0 0

Arroyo, lf 4 0 1 0 O’Sullivan, 2b 3 0 0

a-Burke 1 0 1 0 Martinez, ss 3 1 1 0

Totals 33 4 10 3 Totals 35 3 9 3

a-singled for O’Sullivan in the 9th; struck out for Hargreaves in the 9th

Brockton 210 000 000 ? 4

Bangor 003 000 000 ? 3

E?Brock, Martinez, Vigue; LOB?Brockton 5; Bangor 9; 2B?Daubert; HR?Bustos (7); DP?O’Sullivan-Martinez-Ross 2; S?Bustos; Martinez; SF?Smith; SB?Matos

Brockton IP H R ER BB SO

Ward (W,3-4) 7 1/3 7 3 3 1 8

Brooks (S,14) 1 2/3 2 0 0 1 3

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Vigue (L,4-6) 8 1/3 9 4 2 0 3

Kalinowski 2/3 1 0 0 0 0

HBP?Rosario by Vigue; Ross by Ward; T?2:40; ATT?926