Pippins Drop Series Opener in Bellingham

Offense strands 10, Kuykendall's quality start not enough in loss

The Pippins stranded 10 runners in Tuesday’s visit to Bellingham, falling 3-1 to open a three-game series against the Bells.

Seth Kuykendall turned in a quality start but nonetheless received the loss after giving up a home run to Kyle Green in the fourth inning and allowing an unearned run in the fifth inning. He pitched seven complete innings, surrendering one earned run with two walks and five strikeouts.

The Bells run in the fifth inning was scored by Josh Trujillo after a ball skipped off the glove of third baseman Donald Saltiban Jr. while Trujillo was attempting to tag up to third.

The lone Pippins run came in the sixth inning, when Connor Coballes, moved to second on an error, tagged up to third on a lineout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Carpentier Jr.

Bells starter Eric Chavarria turned in six innings of work, surrendering the one run (unearned) while striking out seven Pippins hitters. He earned the win in his season debut.

The Pippins couldn’t capitalize on four Bells errors, and left more than one runner on base in three different innings. They also struck out 10 times.

Reliever Trevor Cassell pitched the eighth inning for the Pippins, allowing the final Bellingham run after a walk and an RBI double with one out.

The Bells received two innings of scoreless work from Ryan Sanders, and Greg Blackman earned the save despite walking one and hitting Chase Graves in the ninth inning.

The Pippins and Bells will continue their series Wednesday night at 6:35 p.m., with live coverage by Chris Rosato Jr. that can be found at PippinsBaseball.com/Live.

By Chris Rosato Jr.

June 9, 2021