AVON — Temperatures were only in the 70s during the Lake Erie Crushers’ 3-1 loss against the River City Rascals, but things got plenty heated in the top of the fifth inning.
After his pitcher Jorge Charry was called for his second balk of the game, Crushers manager John Massarelli came storming out of the dugout to argue with home plate umpire Jeremy Stangelo and was quickly ejected. It was the first time Massarelli was thrown out as the Crushers manager.
"It is what it is," Massarelli said of the incident after the game.
Once the game was back underway, play was stopped again when Jojo Batten was hit by a Charry pitch.
Batten took exception and Charry walked off the mound toward the plate before benches cleared, but cooler heads prevailed.
The Rascals (30-17) did all their damage on the scoreboard that inning, scoring two runs by taking advantage of two hit batsmen, a wild pitch and an error by shortstop Jodam Rivera, making it 3-0. The team’s only hit that inning came off the bat of first baseman Scott Robinson.
Unfortunately, that was about as exciting as things would get for the Crushers. Their lone run came in the bottom of the seventh when Tim Binkoski brought Arden McWilliams around on a two-out single.
The Crushers (25-22) had an early chance that came back to haunt them. In the second inning, Lake Erie loaded the bases with no outs and clean-up hitter Luke Hetherington coming to the plate.
But Hetherington grounded into a fielder’s choice to first base and Gordie Gronkowski followed with a 5-3 ground ball double-play to end the inning without a run.
That was the only real threat the Crushers had all day at the plate.
Rascals’ pitcher Jake Laber picked up the win after pitching seven solid innings.
His changeup was the main reason Lake Erie couldn’t get its bats going. Charry took the loss.
"We’ve got too much talent [to play this way]," Gronkowski said. "We’ve got to make some adjustments."
Pitching was the lone bright spot on the day for the Crushers. Charry hit three batters and made an error, but didn’t leave many pitches up in the strike zone.
All six hits he surrendered were singles and only one of his three runs was earned. He was relieved by Paul Fagan and Jacinto Gonell, who combined to pitch 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
"I was really happy with the way our pitchers all threw today," Massarelli said. "But the bottom line is that they outplayed us."
It was a disappointing 1-5 home stand for the Crushers, who take a four-game losing streak into the all-star break.
"We really could have gotten on top in the last six games coming home," Gronkowski said. "We’ve just got to clear our minds and come out here and put the last few games behind us."
"We’ve been scuffling the last week or so," Hetherington said. "It’ll be good to get a few days off so we can come back ready to play."
As for the rest of the team, Massarelli had one request.
"Get their minds on baseball," he said.
Lake Erie’s slump comes directly after it was on a 12-5 burst. But as Hetherington says, that’s baseball.
"Part of baseball is being able to turn the page. Every day is a new page," he said.
The Crushers’ season resumes Friday when they begin a six-game road trip against Gateway and River City.