Kansas City, Kan. — Four runs in both the sixth and seventh inning salvaged the series for the Lake Country DockHounds in an 8-3 win Sunday afternoon.
Luke Hansel excelled again in his third start. Only an unearned run scored against him in six strong innings with five strikeouts while allowing just three hits. His second win of the year lowered his ERA to 0.53.
“I had to compete my butt off out there,” Hansel said. “It was my goal to go and give length, so I was happy that the offense took some pressure off and allowed me to complete six.”
Trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Luis Aviles Jr. walked to extend the inning and stole second with an excellent jump. His start threw off Kansas City Monarchs pitcher Daniel Martinez so much he threw the pitch to the backstop, allowing Aviles to advance to third base. Ryan Hernandez clubbed the next pitch into left field to tie the game. Luke Roskam then sent the first pitch over the wall in left field to take Lake Country’s first lead of the series. Brian Rey followed that up with a home run of his own to make it 4-1.
The next inning, walks and timely singles prompted four more DockHounds runs to build a seven-run lead. Daunte Stuart, Aviles, Roskam, and Rey added RBIs in the frame.
The bullpen bended, but didn’t break, building momentum to travel and face the Lincoln Saltdogs for three games beginning Monday with Kelvan Pilot on the mound.
