Walk-off balk defeats Scrappers in 11th inning

Staff report

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LOWELL, MASS.

A walk-off balk in the 11th inning sent the Mahoning Valley Scrappers to their 15th defeat in 22 games.

With Lowell’s Jeremy Rivera on third base with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning, Scrappers reliever Jose Zapata was called for a balk, sending Rivera home with the winning run in Sunday’s 6-5 New York-Penn League game.

Rivera had drawn a led-off walk of Zapata (1-3) and took second on Victor Acosta’s bunt single. Tucker Tubbs’ sacrifice bunt sent Rivera to third.

Mark Mathias and Silento Sayles led the Scrappers at the plate with three hits apiece. Two of Mathias’ hits were doubles.

Mathias, Sayles, Willi Castro and David Armendariz each had one RBI. Castro and Sayles each doubled.

Scrappers starter Dominic DeMasi pitched four innings, allowing four runs on four hits. He walked four and struck out two.

For the Spinners (14-9), Mitchell Gunsolus had two hits. Edwar Garcia (3-0) pitched the 10th and 11th innings to pick up the win.