By David Kubota
NKyTribune reporter
The losing streak is now at seven games for the Florence Freedom, who dropped a 5-4 decision to the first-place River City Rascals on Friday night at UC Health Stadium.
Characters from Marvel’s X-Men were in attendance at the Freedom game on Friday, as well as characters from the popular video game series, Halo. (Photo by David Kubota)
In addition to the heroes, multiple groups of Cub and Boy Scouts were also in attendance. They were invited onto the field before the first pitch and were able to camp out after the game.
Steve Hagan took the mound for Florence as the starter and allowed the Rascals only one hit during the first three innings. Jose Brizuela hammered a pair of solo home runs and a double to lead Florence, which owned a 3-0 lead after three innings. Brizuela now has four homers this season and 15 RBI.
River City, however, scored three times in the top of the sixth inning to rally from a 4-2 deficit and take a 5-4 lead. The Rascals bullpen then shut down the Freedom offense the final four innings to escape with the road victory.
Keivan Berges was 2-for-4 with a run scored for the Freedom. Craig Lepre added an RBI double.
Jonny Ortiz pitched 2 1/3 innings and struck out four batters to pick up the win for River City. Cody Mincey collected the save by hurling a scoreless ninth inning.
Florence and River City meet at 6:05 p.m. Saturday in the second of the three-game series at UC Health Stadium. The Freedom — who have not won since May 23 and are 8-10 this season — will attempt to snap its seven-game losing streak.
Saturday will also be Martial Arts Night.
David Kubota is a Scripps Howard Foundation intern at the NKyTribune this summer. He is a student at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media.
