Kannapolis bullpen, errors overshadow Jesus Valles’ strong outing in loss

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Jesus Valles’s five innings of two-hit ball was not enough as the Kannapolis Cannon Baller bullpen blew a chance at a win, losing 6-2 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. 

Valles, a May signee for the White Sox, had his strongest performance of the season Thursday night. In only his second start of 2021, the Venezuelan strung together a solid two-hit performance. He was able to stretch five innings with three strikeouts, which were both season highs.

A noticeable trait on Valles’ outing was that he pitched to contact. He doesn’t have game-breaking stuff, so his ability to force outs on contact paid off tonight. 

While it ended up alright tonight, pitching to contact almost came back to bite Valles as a few liners made it out to the warning track; they were all tracked down by the outfield trio of Chase Krogman, Cabera Weaver and Luis Mieses.

Mieses had a solid game for himself. The lefty tallied his third home run as a Cannon Baller in the second inning, putting Kannapolis out front 1-0. He went on to finish the night a solid 2-for-4. Mieses put together some solid swings on Wednesday, piecing some warning track line drives together, but couldn’t mount anything until his homer tonight that barely scraped over the left field fence. This was his fourth multi-hit game over his last nine contests. It seems Mieses is starting to get it together at the plate after his call-down from Winston-Salem at the start of June.

With the lead in Kannapolis’ hands heading to the sixth inning, reliever Martin Carrasco came into to hold it. Unfortunately that was not the case. Carrasco allowed three runs to cross the plate for Fayetteville on four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch. Tonight, he looked rushed and was trying to force the Woodpeckers to chase at way too many pitches in the dirt. An erratic appearance adds to the struggles he’s faced against Fayetteville this year, allowing two or more runs in each of his four chances against them.

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The Cannon Ballers tried to mount somewhat of a comeback in the following frame behind Harvin Mendoza. After beating the shift earlier in the game for a single, Mendoza lined a double to center field, scoring D.J. Gladney after he reached on an error by Fayetteville. Mendoza had a solid performance himself, securing back-to-back multi-hit contests. Mendoza impressed in the field with some snags he had to finesse his way to secure. With the Woodpecker lead at 3-2, Kannapolis was within reach of the win heading to the 8th inning.

Southpaw reliever Sammy Peralta took over in the 7th inning and came back out in the eighth. A hit-by-pitch and a Jordan Brewer single put runners on second and third following a Cabera Weaver error. A sac-fly to Weaver pushed another run across the plate for Fayetteville. The runner at second base was able to score on the play as well after Weaver’s throw was too high for catcher Victor Torres to corral it in at home. That runner scored because the umpire deemed the ball out of play, allowing him to score safely. Two errors for Weaver pushed the lead out of reach for Kannapolis.

The Woodpeckers tallied a final run in the 9th off of Marcus Evey, getting the final score of 6-2. Evey continues to have a brutal go of it in 2021. The former New York Yankees draftee has allowed a run in all but four of his twelve outings, ballooning to an 11.66 ERA across 14.2 innings. 

Not only was it a brutal night for the bullpen, it was a night to forget for the top of the Kannapolis lineup. The top three in the lineup of Jose Roriguez, Chase Krogman and Bryan Ramos combined to go 0-for-12 with five strikeouts, three of those belonging to Ramos. It has been a struggle at the plate for Ramos so far in the series. In the opening three games against Fayetteville, he has gone 1-for-12 with a hit, a walk and six strikeouts. 

Friday night’s contest should see Bailey Horn take to the mound for Kannapolis as they look to even the series again at two games a piece with Fayetteville..

Photo credit: Michael Guariglia/FutureSox

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