Another Great A's/Senators Game
A's prevail by 2 runs again
The Senators Baseball Club and Alexandria A's dueled for the second time this Opening Weekend on Sunday, playing nine on the luxe turf of the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, immediately after the Barons defeated the Navigators in the morning game. For the second time, the A's won by two runs with the Senators bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in the 9th inning.
Lohrman got his first start and win of the season for the A's, while Cohn earned a hold and Garboczi recorded the save in the 8-6 victory.
A's hitters warm up in the fancy digs of the Nats Academy
Both teams plated a run in the 1st inning: Lozado for the Senators on Marratto's triple, and leadoff hitter Bartlett for the A's, on Omeir's SAC fly, after a leadoff triple of his own. The score remained knotted nearly half the game, as the Senators defense thwarted multiple threats by the A's, who left 15 total runners on base in 8 innings of offense.
The deadlock held true until, with two runners on base in the bottom of the 5th, Garboczi launched a moonshot that landed beyond the left field fence. The A's piled on for four more runs over the next three innings while the Senators notched one, seemingly coasting into the final six outs with a comfortable 8-2 lead. The Senators brought the top of the order to the plate in the 8th and nearly batted around, doing 4 runs of damage in the process, until second reliever Cohn stepped in to induce three consecutive ground outs to the shortstop.
The A's stranded 3 more runners in the bottom of the 8th, without scoring a run. Entering the 9th, Garboczi took the mound to try for the save. After a walk and two errors brought the go-ahead run to the plate, Garboczi induced a game-ending strikeout.
Aybar, Marratto, and Lozado had multiple hits for the Senators, the latter scoring 3 times. Edsall put the team on his back, throwing over 120 pitches in 7 innings to give his team a chance, but ultimately coming up with the L. Garboczi and Beasley each had multiple hits for the A's, and Lohrman struck out 6 Senators in 6 IP to earn the win.
The A's play next versus the Mudcats at Nike Park on Wednesday, and the Senators host the Arlington Mallards Thursday night at Blair.
