By MIKE PERRYmperry@MorningJournal.com

AVON — The Lake Erie Crushers probably wouldn’t mind at all to see River City pitcher Josh Lowey head back to the Rascals bullpen. For them, the All-Star break also can’t get here quick enough.
Lowey, making his third start of the season after 11 relief appearances, dominated the Crushers hitters, settling down after a pair of first-inning hits to slam the door on the Crusher offense in a 6-4 Rascals win. It was Lake Erie’s fourth loss in five games.
Lowey entered the game with a 2-0 record and a strong 1.85 ERA. He kept the Lake Erie lineup off balance all night, retiring 14 straight hitters at one point before newly-signed catcher Kylee Hash led off the top of the six by bouncing a single up the middle. With a fastball in the low to mid 80’s and two secondary pitches, Lowey didn’t overpower anyone Saturday, but he kept the Lake Erie guessing while his offense built a lead.
The Rascals (29-17) got on the board in the top of the second inning. Clean-up hitter Scott Robinson lead off with a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line. Lake Erie starter Kevin Skogley balked him to second, on a disputed call by the home plate umpire, and scored on Donny Sawyer’s two-out double.
They added another run in the fourth when Sawyer led the frame off with a single, went to third on a well-executed hit-and-run single by Andy Reilly and scored when Kevin Reynolds grounded into a double play.
In the top of the sixth, the Rascals broke the game open, batting around and scoring four runs on four hits to push the lead out to 6-0.
In the bottom of the sixth the Crushers finally got to Lowey, pushing a pair of runs across on a pair of hits. Third baseman Andrew Davis drove in Hash with a bases-loaded walk while Gordie Gronkowski knocked Jodam Rivera home with a fielder’s choice.
Lowey went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He struck out four and walked a pair and threw 72 pitches.
"He did a nice job … he threw strikes," Crushers manager John Massarelli said of Lowey. "I thought he was commanding the zone and had a lot of first-pitch strikes and had a lot of 0-2 counts. He did a nice job."
Skogley pitched five innings for the Crushers, surrendering five earned runs on 10 hits. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out one before leaving the game in the top of the sixth with an arm injury.
"He hurt his arm, other than that we won’t know until we see a doctor," Massarelli said. "He pitched pretty well. I don’t know if he was hurt before the sixth and pitching through it, knowing him probably, but he kept us in the ballgame."
Facing a big deficit, Lake Erie showed signs of life late. Gronkowski hit his ninth home run of the season, a two-run shot to center off Tony Marsala that bounced off Rascals’ center fielder Chris Colton’s glove and over the wall to bring the Crushers to within a pair of runs at 6-4.
Tim Binkowski followed with a single to right before a base hit to left by Eddie Tisdale put the tying runs on base and send Marsala to the showers, but Rascals manager Chad Parker had another Lowey to call on. He brought in Jason Lowey, River City’s closer and twin brother of the starter Josh Lowey, to slam the door.
Lowey got Arden McWilliams to ground out meekly to first baseman Scott Robinson to end the threat.
Lake Erie would fight until the final out. In the bottom of the ninth, with Lowey still on the mound, the Crushers loaded the bases on one-out singles by Rivera and Drew Saylor and a two-out walk by Luke Hetherington. But Gronkowski struck out looking to end the game.
"Instead of putting the pressure on late we have to come out early and score some runs to help out pitchers out," Gronkowski said. "If we play behind all year, obviously, we’re not going to be successful. Yeah, we’re battling back and fighting to the end, but we have to start doing that in the first inning.
"Once we start doing that we’re going to be an unbelievable team."
With Saturday’s loss the Crushers (25-21) guarantee a losing nine-game home stand heading into the All-Star break. After taking two of three against Florence, Lake Erie lost two of three to Gateway and have dropped the first two of a three-game set to the Rascals.