Hits were hard to come by during early Sunday play at the Area Code Games, but teams began to heat up later in the day with Chicago’s Charles Tilson providing the first home run of the event.
The first two games of the day at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif., produced just 14 hits and four runs as Brewers Blue topped the Nationals 1-0 and the Reds edged Brewers White 2-1.
Tilson, who has had a strong tournament for the White Sox, led off the third game with a home run to spark a 7-3 win over the Yankees.
Texas finished the night with a 5-4 win over the Athletics that went 9 1/2 innings.
Brewers Blue 1, Nationals 0
Scoring: Christian Lopes scored the only run of the game as he led off the bottom of the first for Brewers Blue with a walk, stole second, went to third on Phillip Evans’ base hit and scored on a wild pitch.
Top Pitcher: Porter Clayton pitched two scoreless innings for the Nationals and gave up just one hit while striking out three without a walk.
Top Hitter: The two teams combined for eight hits, but Evans was 2-for-2 for Brewers Blue.
Best Hit: There were no extra-base hits in the game and no RBIs, however Evans’ base hit in the first put Christian Lopes in position to score the only run.
Best Defensive Play: Cole Irvin hit two batters in the third inning, but he prevented the Nationals from scoring the tying run by picking off Eric Forgione at first base.
Reds 2, Brewers White 1
Scoring: In a strange fourth inning, the Brewers White struck out five times yet still managed to score two runs. After Brett Harrison struck out, Blake Swihart struck out but reached base on a dropped third strike. Kavin Keyes followed with a single, but Greg Bird struck out for the second out of the inning. Xavier Palmer also struck out, but another dropped third strike allowed him to reach safely and load the bases for Drew Stankiewicz. He came through with a base hit to score Swihart and Keyes. Tyler Booth then struck out for the final out of the frame.
Brewers White scored in the bottom of the inning when Kramer doubled, stole third and came home on a groundout.
Top Pitcher: Brandon Bonilla, son of former MLB all-star Bobby Bonilla, pitched two shutout, no-hit innings and struck out two without a walk for the Reds.
Top Hitter: The teams combined for only six hits, however Stankiewicz was 1-for-2 with two RBIs for the Reds.
Best Hit: Dante Flores rapped a double for one of the Brewers White’s three hits.
Best Defensive Play: The Reds' Eric Holdren picked off speedy Desmond Henry at first base to end the sixth inning and maintain the Reds’ lead.
White Sox 7, Yankees 3
Scoring: The White Sox built a 6-0 lead and hung on for the 7-3 victory. Tilson led off the first inning with the first home run of the event and Mason Snyder followed with a double. Snyder later scored the second run on a groundout.
In the third, Zachary Regier reached base on an error for the White Sox and Tilson followed with a single. After Snyder walked, Derek Starling singled to drive in two runs. Starling also scored on a base hit by Dylan Delso.
The Yankees added two runs in the bottom of the third. Morgan Phillips reached first on a dropped third strike and scored on Michael White’s base hit. Justin Bianco, who entered the game as a courtesy runner after Fernelys Sanchez was hit by a pitch, scored on Josh Ake’s sacrifice fly.
The Yankees added another run in the bottom of the fifth on a single by Devin Over and an error on White’s grounder. The White Sox scored the final run when CJ Picerni walked and came home on Jerrick Suiter’s hit.
Top Pitcher: Kevin Comer of the Yankees pitched four innings and struck out nine batters while giving up one run on one hit with four walks.
Top Hitter: Tilson had a big day, going 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs.
Best Hit: Tilson had the tournament’s first home run with a leadoff round-tripper in the first inning.
Best Defensive Play: The Yankees averted a big first inning by the White Sox by getting the third out of the inning when Dylan Delso was tagged straying off of second base following Suiter’s base hit.
Rangers 5, Athletics 4
Scoring: The Rangers held on for their first win of the event in a game that went 9 1/2 innings. Texas opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as Chris McFarland walked and scored on Elliot Richoux’s sacrifice fly.
In the third, C.J. Hinojosa entered the game as a courtesy runner after Nick Williams was hit by a pitch. He stole second and scored on a base hit.
The Athletics tied the game at 2 in the top of the fifth. Zac Freeman walked and Vance Vizcaino reached on an error. Freeman scored on a wild pitch during Nick Coffman’s at-bat and Vizcaino scored on Coffman’s ground out.
Texas regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Richoux walked on four pitches and scored on C.J. McElroy’s sacrifice fly.
Texas increased its lead in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs. Trevor Story walked, stole second and scored on Wayne Taylor’s single. Richoux later drove home Taylor with a double.
The Athletics batted in the top of the 10th and scored twice. Logan Ratledge reached base on an error and scored on an error committed on a play following Charles Shefffield III’s base hit. Sheffield also scored on a hit by Alex Bandino.
Top Pitcher: Toller Boardman went two innings and gave up two hits, but did not allow a run or a walk and struck out three for Texas.
Top Hitter: Richoux was 1-for-2 with a double, a run scored, an RBI and a walk for the Rangers.
Best Hit: Oakland’s Freeman had the game’s other extra-base hit, a triple.
Best Defensive Plays: The Oakland defense converted three double plays to end three Texas rallies.
