Lexington pitching stymies Fireflies again
The dueling shutouts continued in Columbia’s series with Lexington on Saturday.
Starter Jace Vines pitched six strong innings, and Lexington pitchers retired 18 of the final 19 batters in the 4-0 win over the Fireflies in front of a sold-out crowd at Spirit Communications Park.
It was Lexington’s second shutout of Columbia in the past three games. The Legends blanked the Fireflies 2-0 on Thursday. The Fireflies answered with a 5-0 win on Friday.
“It’s been good pitching the whole series by both teams,” Lexington manager Scott Thorman said. “Fortunately, we were on the good side of it tonight. We got great stuff from Vines and (Garrett) Davila. We kept guys off balance.”
Vines, who struggled in his first two starts, hasn’t given up a run over his last two. The fourth-round pick allowed three hits, walked one and struck out four.
Davila pitched the final three innings to pick up his first save of the year. The two pitchers combined to retire 15 straight batters at one point.
“Credit to their pitching, they pitched good,” Columbia manager Jose Leger said. “Our hitters kind of chased a little bit. I thought we were a little passive with two strikes. I think we’ve got to put the ball in play. We had a mistake running the bases that cost us a possible big inning. We’ve just got to be a little more careful.”
Chris DeVito and Khalil Lee, members of the Kansas City Royals’ 2016 draft class, provided the offense for the Legends by hitting a pair of two-run homers off starter Colin Holderman. DeVito’s came in the top of the first inning, and he has an RBI in five of his last seven games.
Lee, who won’t turn 19 until June, hit a two-out blast in the second to score Ricky Aracena and make it 4-0.
Columbia got the leadoff batter on in three of the first four innings. But Michael Paez’s leadoff single in the fourth was the Fireflies’ last hit until Brandon Brosher’s hit to begin the final inning.
Tim Tebow went 0-for-3 but reached on a fielder’s choice in the second inning. Tebow was coming off his first multi-hit night in the minors after going 3-for-3 Friday night.
The two teams will finish the four-game series Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
Lexington | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Lee rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Castellano 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Peterson lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
DeVito 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Rivera 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Viloria c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Olloque dh lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Gasparini cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Aracena ss | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 34 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
Columbia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Cone 1f | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carpio 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Paez ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Winningham 1b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Gamache 1b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Medina rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Lindsay cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tebow dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Jabs 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Brosher c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
TOTALS | 28 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
Lexington | 220 | 000 | 000 | — | 4 |
Columbia | 000 | 000 | 000 | — | 0 |
E — Holderman, Brosher. DP — Lexington 2. LOB — Lexington 6, Columbia 3. SB — Lee
Lexington | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Vines W, 1-2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Davila | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Columbia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Holderman L, 1-1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
McGeorge | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Blackham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
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BP — Peterson (by Holderman), Winningham (by Vines). Umpires — HP: Reed Basner. 1B: John Benken. T — 2:23. A — 7,536.
This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Lexington pitching stymies Fireflies again."