Jordan Kraus turned in a masterful eight-inning performance as the Florence Freedom, presented by Titan Mechanical Solutions, topped the River City Rascals by a score of 5-2 on Tuesday night at UC Health Stadium.
Jordan Kraus allowed just one earned run in eight innings as the Freedom defeated the River City Rascals 5-2 at UC Health Stadium Tuesday night (provided photo).
Following an outing in which he allowed season-highs in hits, runs and walks in a loss on Thursday, Kraus (6-3) bounced back Tuesday by allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits while striking out six and moving into a tie with teammates Marty Anderson and Cody Gray for most wins among Frontier League pitchers.
The Freedom (28-12) jumped out in early support of Kraus with a 3-0 lead in the first inning. After three consecutive walks by Rascals (20-21) starter Ryan Smith (0-1) loaded the bases, Collins Cuthrell drove in Taylor Oldham with a sacrifice fly, and Jordan Brower immediately followed with a two-run single to right field.
Smith faced just seven batters and recorded two outs in the first inning before he was pulled in favor of left-hander Lucas Laster. The southpaw would go on to allow only two hits and struck out eight over six and one-third innings of long relief.
Florence put another run on the board in the second inning after a pair of walks. With Oldham on first and Mike Morris on third, Oldham broke for second. Rascals catcher Mike Jurgella pump-faked toward second before throwing to third as Morris strayed from third, but the throw went wild and allowed Morris to score.
River City scored its two runs off Kraus in the eighth inning on RBI-singles by Jason Merjano and Josh Ludy, but Enrique Zamora pitched a scoreless ninth inning to give the Freedom their fourth straight win.
Austin Wobrock went 0-for-4 at the plate, ending his hitting streak at 11 games, but Daniel Fraga collected a RBI-single in the sixth inning to extend his on-base streak to 22 games.
The series continues Wednesday with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at UC Health Stadium. Cody Gray (6-1) will start for the Freedom against River City’s Hector Hernandez (3-4).
The Florence Freedom are members of the independent Frontier League and play all home games at UC Health Stadium located at 7950 Freedom Way in Florence, KY. The Freedom can be found online at FlorenceFreedom.com, or by phone at 859-594-4487.
