NILES, OH – Dailyn Martinez delivered seven scoreless innings in an outstanding mound performance, and the State College Spikes posted consecutive victories for the first time in 2014 with a 5-0 win over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers at Eastwood Field on Friday night.
Martinez (1-1) gave up a first-inning single to Anthony Santander, then retired the next 15 batters he faced until walking Ka’ai Tom in the sixth. The right-hander gave up just two hits and two walks total while striking out three batters on the evening. Martinez also worked efficiently, throwing 77 pitches, 51 of them for strikes.
The outing was the complete opposite of the native Dominican’s first start of the year, in which he allowed seven runs, six of them earned, over 3 1/3 innings on Sunday night against Williamsport.
State College (3-5) pitchers have now run up a streak of 21 consecutive innings without allowing a run, stretching back to Wednesday. The back-to-back shutouts are the first for the Spikes since August 27-28 of last season.
The Spikes gave Martinez support with timely hitting in the middle innings. In the fifth, Thomas Spitz singled with one out, stole second, and moved to third on a passed ball before Jose Godoy brought him in with a groundout. State College added a run in the sixth when Craig Aikin walked, went to third on Michael Pritchard’s single, and scored on a wild pitch.
The scoring finished in the eighth when Godoy drew a bases-loaded walk, the third produced by the Spikes in the series, and Danny Martin’s single combined with an error to plate two more runs.
Jacob Evans, the Cardinals’ sixth-round draft choice of Oklahoma this year, retired all six batters he faced, one via strikeout, to finish off State College’s victory in his pro debut.
Mahoning Valley (3-5) starter Leandro Linares (0-1) took the loss after giving up one unearned run over five innings of work. Linares, who retired eight straight batters at one point, allowed two hits and two walks while striking out two batters.
Casey Grayson went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Spikes.
Li-Jen Chu, who was the only Scrappers batter with multiple hits on Thursday, contributed the second Mahoning Valley hit with a single to right in the seventh.
Saturday, the Spikes seek to finish off the sweep in a 7:05 p.m. matchup against the Scrappers. State College will send right-hander Juan Perez (1-0) to the mound to face Mahoning Valley right-hander Jared Robinson (0-1).
(STATE COLLEGE SPIKES RELEASE)
(STATE COLLEGE SPIKES RELEASE)