On a day when Jake Arrieta’s win streak ended, the Hounds’ streak stopped at 5 as well. The Chicago Hounds are now 6-3 on the 2016 campaign after losing today to the Orioles 5-4 at Ridgewood High School. The Orioles (or Ridgewood?) appear to have the Hounds’ number, having defeated the Hounds twice this season, both games at Ridgewood. The Hounds also lost to the Orioles both times they played at Ridgewood HS in the 2015 season (in the one game the two teams played in 2015 at Winnemac, the Hounds won 12-0 in only 5 innings). The Hounds will play the Orioles for the 3rd and final time in the regular season on July 5th, luckily that game will be at Winnemac.
The Hounds were led by Matt Burch (#6, P) and Mike Marra (#15, RF/P) on the mound today. Burch allowed 4 runs through 5 innings, and kept the game tight throughout. Marra made his pitching debut for the Hounds, and pitched a fine 1.2 innings, but unfortunately a Hound error in the 7th allowed the winning run to reach base, and the Hounds ended up losing on a walk-off single.
The Hounds were led offensively by Max Kiefer (#21, LF), who drove in 3 of the Hound runs with 2 line drive singles, scoring Mike Mudd (#29, EH/RF) and Keith Richardson (#17, 1B) in the 2nd (both had walked), and Richardson again in the 4th (again after Richardson walked for his second of 3 times on the day). Kiefer also walked in this third at bat.
They say that walks often turn into runs, and indeed, all 4 Hound batsman who scored did so after walking. The 4th Hound run came from Garrett Eddy (#22, CF) walking in the 5th inning. Eddy reached second on a passed ball, and then reached third on an error by the third baseman trying to get him out on a fielder’s choice. Marra drove in Eddy with a single, ending the Hound scoring at 4 runs.
The Hounds had solid defense from Tony Correa (#13, 2B) who had multiple assists and putouts (2 on tough high flies with the wind, including one that caused him to rumble, stumble, bumble over the mound, but he kept possession of the ball), and from Nolan Bielinski (#4, C) who picked a runner off at second. The outfielders also fought the bad sight lines and the very windy conditions to track down difficult fly balls.
The Hounds have a packed schedule in the next week, and look to get back on another winning streak–here are the next 4 games:
Wed 6/8 – Rangers – 5:50 pm – Winnemac Fri 6/10 – Red Sox – 5:50 pm – Winnemac (makeup for 5/25 rainout) Sat 6/11 – Yankees – 12:15 pm – Winnemac Sun 6/12 – Marlins – 10:00 am – Southwest Park