The Otters sent out Joan Gonzalez for his sixth start of the season and he looked great once again. In the first, he stranded two runners on base to lock in.
The offense wasted no time as Dennis Pierce reached and JT Benson doubled to jump Evansville out to an early lead. The inning didn’t end there as a couple of hustle infield singles from Keenan Taylor and J.J. Cruz added two more to extend the lead to three.
A defensive mistake and double put runners on second and third with no outs to begin the top of the second. L.J. Jones took a slow roller and his throw beat the runner attempting to advance to home on the play, keeping Evansville’s shutout intact. Gonzalez then got a strikeout and ground out to end the inning unharmed. He followed that with a 1-2-3 third.
The Otters added more runs in the fourth. A Graham Brown single scored one before Cruz launched a three-run home run to put Evansville up 7-0.
Gonzalez kept dealing through six, allowing just one run. He entered the seventh with already over 100 pitches before a soft single and a couple of walks loaded the bases with one out. Nolan Thebiay entered the game and after a pair of runs scored on a single to bring the score to 7-3, he grabbed the final two outs of the seventh.
Garrett Crowley entered for the second time since being acquired from Quebec and continued to deal. He struck out two of three batters faced in the eighth and after allowing a bunt single to start the ninth, he got the next three batters out. He finished the game with another strikeout, giving him six through his first three innings as an Otter.
The Otters received multi-hit games from four of their starters, including Crix Taveras who reached in three of his four at-bats. The Otters pitching staff collected 32 strikeouts in the series, highlighted by Braden Scott’s 11 on Tuesday and Gonzalez’ seven tonight.
Evansville heads to Chicagoland to open a three-game set with the Windy City ThunderBolts on Friday night. First pitch in Crestwood is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. CT.
