AppleSox Send Hatton to Mound to Face Yakima Valley
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The Wenatchee AppleSox look to even up their season-ending series tonight when they face the Yakima Valley Pippins at 6:35 p.m. at Yakima County Stadium.
The AppleSox rallied from two runs down entering the ninth inning to tie the game but surrendered the lead as the Pippins walked them off in the bottom half of the inning.
The AppleSox trailed 5-1 entering the fifth innings but Garrett Cutting hit a home run and A.J. Guerrero and TIno Bethancourt hit RBI singles for a three-run rally over two innings.
In the ninth, the AppleSox scored two runs without collecting a hit. Collin Villegas reached on a one-out error before Bethnacourt and Guerrero drew back-to-back walks to load up the bases. A wild pitch brought in one run and then Jackson Van De Brake hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game up in the ninth. It wasn't enough as three consecutive Pippins hitters reached base in the bottom of the ninth to walk off the AppleSox for the first time this summer.
Tyler Chipman suffered the tough-luck less after one of the best, if not the best, relief performances from an AppleSox pitcher this summer. Chipman entered the game in the fifth inning with runners at first and third and only one out. He went on to not only strand those two runners but also retired each of the first 13 hitters that he faced, nine via strikeouts. With two outs in the ninth, Chipman issued a full-count walk, allowed a soft infield single and then an error scored the game-winning run.
With his effort, Chipman became the second AppleSox pitcher to strike out at least nine in a game this summer, joining Skylar Hales, who also did it against the Pippins in a relief appearance back on July 24.
The Pippins enter tonight’s game rolling, winners of four straight after sweeping the Lefties prior to last night’s series-opening win. They are outscoring opponents 35-18 during this four-game streak, which comes on the heels of four straight losses prior to this surge.
Cole Hatton toes the rubber for the final time this summer tonight. He leads the AppleSox eight games started and 37.2 innings. Hatton is three strikeouts away from tying Skylar Hales (40) for the team lead. He has tossed at least five innings in two-of-his-last-three starts, including tossing a season-high six innings against Port Angeles last Wednesday.
Hatton will face Connor Wilson, a 2020 Chelan High School graduate. This is the third time that the AppleSox will face Wilson this summer. He picked up the win against the Sox on June 2 as a member of the Northwest Star Academy. He tossed 2.1 scoreless innings and struck out two in the Nighthawks’ 7-6 win. Wilson faced the AppleSox a second time on July 23 and struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up the Pippins’ series-opening win over the AppleSox.
Listen live to the action on Sunny FM at kcsyfm.com on your desktop computer or by tuning in at any of the following stations below.
Wenatchee: 93.9 FM
East Wenatchee/Rock Island: 98.1 FM
Lake Chelan Valley: 95.3 FM
Brewster/Pateros: 101.3 FM
Okanogan Valley: 101.9 FM
Omak/Tonasket/Oroville: 97.7 FM
Methow Valley: 106.3 FM
Pregame coverage begins at 6:10 p.m. with the Horan Estates Winery Pregame Show and the broadcast wraps up with the Denny’s Late Night Postgame Show. Joel Norman will provide play-by-play coverage.
Live stats can be found on Pointstreak.
