Roller coaster ride continues for Suns
PITTSFIELD – Up and down, up and down the Suns go.
As the weekend ended with the Suns yielding 10 walks in a 11-4 loss to the Martha Vineyard Sharks on Saturday and a 4-1 loss to the Nashua Silver Knights on Sunday, it appeared as if the Suns were never going to shine again.
Then the heat wave heat hit, and the Suns were burning, as in burning hot.
The Suns went on to win their next two games in dramatic fashion over the last two days with wins over Nashua on Monday night, 6-4, on a John Kinne ninth-inning single, and Tuesday night on a walkoff Kyle Singleton two-run home run, to put the Suns at 15-17 overall with three weeks left in the season.
Kinne, who is batting .286 as of Tuesday, is back playing his natural position shortstop and hitting the ball like he did at Monument Mountain in Great Barrington as both a sophomore and junior.
“I am feeling more and more comfortable with my swing and am starting to hit the ball better,” Kinne said.
While now at 15-17 overall, the Suns are still hanging on to the last playoff spot as the sixth seed, despite being hampered by walks in losses such as Saturday’s 11-4 drubbing to the Sharks.
“It’s really been the same stuff, walks have been our issue; with 10 walks. it’s painful,” said Suns Manager Tom Conley. “I’ve been telling them that I don’t care if you are giving up doubles or singles all over the yard, but you can’t walk people.”
After trailing 3-0 to the Sharks in the second inning on three doubles off former Taconic pitcher Peter Gregory, the Suns battled back to tie it in the third inning.
Pittsfield’s Bo Slemons led off with a home run, while Gary Tesch followed with a single. Two outs later, Frank Crinella walked and Singleton singled to right with a shot that scored Tesch.
The Suns’ Brendan Slattery followed by fighting off a pitch and driving it to the opposite field as Crinella came around to score on a bang-bang play at the plate, where the catcher dropped the ball, tying the game at 3-3.
Patrick Lia came into relieve in the fourth and went through the Sharks order, 1-2-3, with no problems. The fifth was a different story, as Lia walked the first three batters before hitting a batter on the elbow for a run scored. The Sharks added a sacrifice fly and a single to go up 6-4.
The Sharks increased their lead to 9-4 in the sixth on two singles, a walk and an error that put the game out of reach.
“When you’re walking people, you are just beating yourself; they are in first place, and they are not that much better than us,” Conley said. “ I think we are as good as anyone, but when we play like that, we are not.”
Well, hold the phone, Skip, because it is always a new day.
In the Suns’ 6-4 win over the Silver Knights on Monday, Kinne hit a two-out, two-run single to give his team the victory.
Kinne, who went three for four on the night, has continued his hot streak, which has been on par with Singleton, whose walkoff win at Wahconah Park on Tuesday night made it all that much sweeter.
This week, the Suns play a four-game home stand starting on Friday (July 19) against Torrington (7 p.m.), Saturday against Martha’s Vineyard (7 p.m.), Sunday against Wachusett (4 p.m.) and Monday against Torrington (7p.m.) again.
Don’t miss the exciting action, because the Suns are heating up.
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