Evansville stranded nine runners on the evening, six of them in scoring position.
Kona Quiggle led off the game with a solo home run to left field, his fourth homer of the season. From there, the Otters failed to muster a run the remainder of Friday’s contest.
Jhon Vargas retired the first eight batters he faced in his start for Evansville. He allowed just one baserunner through his first four innings.
The ValleyCats took the lead with three runs in the fifth inning. Tri-City started the threat with a base hit and a hit by pitch. With two outs, the ValleyCats’ Payvin Parks lasered a double off the right field wall scoring two. One more Tri-City run scored on an error.
Vargas suffered the loss but earned his fifth quality start of the season, allowing three earned runs over 6.1 innings pitched with five strikeouts and no walks.
Tri-City added a run in the seventh and used another two-out two RBI double in the eighth to bring the score to 6-1.
John Dyer led the Otters’ offense with two hits, including a double. Jeffrey Baez notched a single to extend his hit streak to eight games.
The Otters and ValleyCats continue the series on Saturday in Troy with a 5:30 pm CT first pitch. Fans can listen to the action on the Otters Digital Network.
All home and road Otters games this season are televised on FloSports with audio-only coverage available for free on the Evansville Otters YouTube page.
