The Undercards: Renegades Fall in Awfully Quiet Night

With just about all the minor league seasons ending, only the Hudson Valley Renegades played Tuesday. Don’t worry- the Montgomery Biscuits and Bowling Green Hot Rods will be in the postseason this year along with the ‘Gades, but nothing was going on here last night.

Short Season-A New York-Penn League: Tri-City ValleyCats (HOU) 9, Hudson Valley Renegades 3

The Renegades have already clinched their division, but they’re battling the ValleyCats for homefield advantage throughout the playoff and unfortunately suffered a setback on Tuesday, losing 9-3 to fall into a tie for the best record at 51-24. Eduar Quinonez started for Hudson Valley and struggled, going 4 innings allowing 5 runs on 9 hits, striking out 2 while walking 1. He posted a 7-0 groundout to flyout ratio but allowed 2 home runs, both to the ValleyCat’s 9-hole hitter, Dan Gulbransen, who had himself a career day, going 2 for 4 with 2 homers and 4 RBI. His 3-run shot in the 5th inning made it 5-0 Tri-City. Brandon Henderson followed Quinonez with 2 shutout innings, striking out 2, and while he did that the Renegades battled back. In the 6th, Justin O’Conner singled before Richie Shaffer tripled him in and then scored himself on a Luke Maile groundout to make it 5-2. A pair of Tri-City errors made it 5-3 entering the bottom of the 7th. But then the floodgates opened as Ryan Garton allowed 4 runs, just 1 earned, after a huge error led to 3 two-out runs including 2 on the error itself. Dylan Floro got 3 groundouts in the 8th, but the Renegades failed to generate any more offense as they lost 9-3. Shaffer did go 2 for 4 with the RBI triple, a walk, and a run scored, while Michael Williams went 2 for 2 with 2 doubles and a walk. Joe Sciafani went 5 for 5 with 2 doubles for Tri-City.