Raptors Look to Bounce Back Following First Loss
Game 4 of the series proved to be a pitcher's duel, as Raptors starter Chase Stratton went 8 full innings on the night, striking out 5 and giving up only 2 hits. Despite the fantastic performance from Stratton on the bump, the lineup struggled to pick up Jackalopes pitching all game long, leading to the Raptor's first loss on the young season. Throughout the night there was traffic on the base paths for the Raptors, however, they left 10 total men on base and couldn’t get a run across the board; Striking out multiple times with the bases loaded, plus not scoring with runners on and no one out was probably the main culprit behind the Raptors run-scoring woes last night.
While Stratton put his best effort out there to keep his team within striking distance, the lineup’s lack of situational hitting and undisciplined approach at the plate caused them to fall out of contention in this one. Stratton had his A+ stuff last night but was in dire need of some support from the lineup beside him. Baseball is a team sport, and when one aspect of the team, either pitching or hitting isn’t productive, the other must pick up the slack to keep the game competitive; And in this one tonight, the Raptors only had their pitching working courtesy of Stratton and McCabe. If the Raptors want to win this series against the reigning Pioneer League champions, they’re going to need the bats to wake up moving into the back end of the series.
I would expect the Raptor’s lineup to be swinging with some fire in their bats following their first shutout loss. If they want to win the series, they are gonna need to fuse the chemistry between the pitching staff and their sluggers; When the two sides are working in tandem, this team is near unbeatable as we saw through the first few games in the series. Regardless of their first loss on the season, hopes are still soaring high for this Raptors ballclub as they look to bounce back tonight at 6:30 PM in game 5 of the opening series against the Jackalopes.