KANNAPOLIS — Time is no longer a friend of the Intimidators.
Kannapolis moved a step closer to garaging its season after it turned to goo in Saturday’s 7-2 loss to visiting Hagerstown.
“We’re in trouble now,” manager Razor Shines said after the Intimidators fell 3 1/2 games behind in the chase for an SAL wild-card berth. “We’re not mathematically eliminated, so we’ll continue to battle. But we’re in trouble. Hagerstown came in here with the playoffs on the line and they’ve flat-out beat us.”
Kannapolis (27-34, 74-56 overall) has nine games remaining — including this afternoon’s home finale — but not much momentum. The loss was its third straight and fifth in the past six games.
“I don’t want to say it’s going to take a miracle,” said outfielder Norman Martel. “But the stars are going to have to be in the right place. Everything has to fall perfectly into place.”
The only thing that fell last night were 16 Hagerstown hits, giving the Suns 39 in the first three games of this crucial weekend series.
“They’ve taken the initiative and outplayed us for three days,” said Shines. “This was a huge game and they played like it.”
Hagerstown (40-21, 78-53 overall), the league’s Northern Division leader, jumped on losing pitcher Heath Phillips for a pair of first-inning runs and led 5-0 entering the last of the fifth. The 19-year-old southpaw was chased after surrendering nine hits, two walks and two hit batsmen in 4 2/3 innings.
“Right now we’re not doing anything right,” said Kannapolis DH Francisco Lebron. “The whole team is slumping. We trying our hardest. It just seems like it’s not good enough.”
Lebron got the Intimidators — a team that won 35 of its first 46 games this season — on the scoreboard in the last of the fifth. He became only the second player to hit a ball over the visitors’ clubhouse in left field when he air-mailed a 1-2 pitch from Julio Pavon and delivered it some 450 feet.
“It’s the longest home run I’ve seen hit at this stadium,” said Shines, who wasn’t around for the Ruthian blast Andruw Jones hit for the Macon Braves in 1995.
“It landed over here,” he added, pointing a finger toward his office window.
Not a bad little poke considering Lebron was simply trying to protect the plate. “With two strikes I just wanted to put it in play,” he said. “I guess it was good timing.”
Martel cut the deficit to 5-2 in the sixth when he smacked his first home run of the season, a leadoff shot that cleared the wall the right-center.
“In batting practice I usually hit three or four,” he said. “But in games I’ve been trying to get comfortable and going through new stances. I guess I’m starting to see the ball better. (Friday) night I hit a triple over the center-fielder’s head. And this one, he just hung me a fastball over the plate and it took care of itself.”
Hagerstown closed the scoring with a couple of ninth-inning runs off reliever Julio Castro. Afterward, the only noise in the Kannapolis dressing room was the sound of silence.
“We’re not playing good baseball right now,” said first-baseman Casey Rogowski. “Nothing’s falling our way. It’s a common story. Look at the Twins — what’s happened to them? What we need to do is play these last nine games as hard as we can and finish the season strong. And if we don’t make the playoffs, then hey, maybe it’s not our time. But at least we’ll know we gave it our best shot.”
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NOTES: The paid crowd was a season-high 4,639 and helped establish a new franchise record — 127,047 for the season. That, despite 11 postponements. ... Hagerstown had six extra-base hits, including triples by Adam Shabala and Deivi Santos. ... Rogowski was named the team MVP and third-baseman John Lackaff its defensive player of the year in a pre-game ceremony. ... Following today’s 2 p.m. contest, Hagerstown visits first-half champion Lexington for four games beginning Monday. The Intimidators play their final eight games on the road — four at Charleston (WV) and four at Lakewood. If Kannapolis should qualify for the playoffs, it will host a first-round game on Sept. 4. ... Former Intimidators Corwin Malone, Dennis Ulacia and Humberto Quintero have been promoted to Class AA Birmingham.
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