Troy
Tri-City ValleyCats right fielder Marty Costes was just inches from making a diving, game-ending catch in his professional debut on Sunday evening.
Catcher Alex Holderbach, also playing his first game, was one swing from sending the contest into extra innings or even winning it.
Both ValleyCats came up short, giving them their first disappointments to bounce back from as minor-leaguers.
Vermont’s Jose Rivas had the two-run, two-out double that bounced off the tip of Costes’ glove in the top of the ninth to send Tri-City to a 4-3 defeat before 3,611 fans at Bruno Stadium.
“We’ve just got to move on from here,’’ said Costes, whom the Houston Astros picked in the 22nd round out of Maryland in this month’s draft. “We play a lot of games. That’s what I was told in the dugout, and that’s how baseball goes sometimes.”
Holderbach, who had a two-run single in the fifth, struck out swinging with two men on in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
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Tri-City ValleyCats catcher Oscar Campos (2) watches his hit against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats catcher Oscar Campos (2) watches his hit against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times
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Fans watch he Vermont Lake play the Tri-City ValleyCats during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
Fans watch he Vermont Lake play the Tri-City ValleyCats during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
Photo: Hans Pennink
Vermont Lake Monsters Jesus Lage (2) and J.C. Rodriguez (7) get Tri-City ValleyCats Enmanuel Valdez (9) out at second base on a double play to first during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessVermont Lake Monsters Jesus Lage (2) and J.C. Rodriguez (7) get Tri-City ValleyCats Enmanuel Valdez (9) out at second base on a double play to first during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018,
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Vermont Lake Monsters Jesus Lage (2) makes the out against Tri-City ValleyCats Jeremy Pena (33) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessVermont Lake Monsters Jesus Lage (2) makes the out against Tri-City ValleyCats Jeremy Pena (33) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times
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Tri-City ValleyCats shortstop Jeremy Pena (33) can't make the stop against Vermont the Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats shortstop Jeremy Pena (33) can't make the stop against Vermont the Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the
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Tri-City ValleyCats catcher Oscar Campos (2) is safe at second base in front of the throw to Vermont Lake Monsters J.C. Rodriguez (7) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats catcher Oscar Campos (2) is safe at second base in front of the throw to Vermont Lake Monsters J.C. Rodriguez (7) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y.
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Tri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) watches his base hit against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) watches his base hit against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to
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Tri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) advances to second base against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) advances to second base against the Vermont Lake Monsters during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special
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Tri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) beats the pick off attempt by Vermont Lake Monsters first baseman Aaron Arruda (27)during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessTri-City ValleyCats shortstop Michael Wielansky (17) beats the pick off attempt by Vermont Lake Monsters first baseman Aaron Arruda (27)during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y.
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Vermont Lake Monsters catcher Robert Mullen (23) tags outTri-City ValleyCats center fielder Ramiro Rodriguez (8) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink / Special to the Times Union)
lessVermont Lake Monsters catcher Robert Mullen (23) tags outTri-City ValleyCats center fielder Ramiro Rodriguez (8) during a minor league baseball game Saturday, June 16, 2018, in Troy, N.Y. (Hans Pennink /
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ValleyCats lose in ninth inning to Vermont
“I got a little too excited, I’d say,” said Holderbach, a 16th-round selection out of Eastern Kentucky. “I was trying to do a little too much there. I took a good pitch and swung at two bad ones, but that’s baseball. I kind of let the team down, but you come out tomorrow again and play another game.”
Tri-City (1-2) dropped two of three games in its season-opening series and begins a three-game set at Aberdeen on Monday.
“First weekend was all right,’’ ValleyCats manager Jason Bell said. “There were some good things, some things we need to improve on, but all in all, there was a little bit of positives, even though we didn’t win the series.”
The ValleyCats took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning, but reliever Luis De Paula loaded the bases with one out. He allowed a sacrifice fly to Javier Godard that brought the Lake Monsters within 3-2.
Up came Rivas, who drove an 0-1 pitch to the opposite field. Costes sprinted a long way toward the foul line and dove only to have the ball nick off the edge of his glove.
“Yeah, man, it was a close one,’’ Costes said. “I gave it my best shot. Hopefully, next time I can come through. I’m just glad we battled, stayed in the game and made it a close one.”
ValleyCats first-round pick Seth Beer, who went 0 for 3, tried to pick up Costes after the game.
“He was kind of frustrated about it, and I said if I would have been out there, for instance, that ball is going to fall,’’ Beer said. “That’s just the fact of it. The amount of effort he put into it, I was really proud of him. He was going 100 percent the whole time, and a game of inches, right? It wasn’t on him.”
Until the ninth inning, Tri-City pitching had held Vermont hitters in check. Starter Hansel Paulino went three innings and allowed one hit and Carlos Hiraldo took over from there to allow only one run in five innings.
Prior to the game, Siena men’s basketball coach Jamion Christian and his 5-year-old son, Jacoy, threw out the first pitches for Fathers’ Day.
Christian and Bell met for the first time near the ValleyCats dugout. Bell had a conversation with Christian and his wife, Allie, and autographed a baseball for Jacoy.
Both men favor of a data-driven approach to their sports and hoped to talk again.
“It was awesome,’’ Bell said. “He said he likes a lot of analytics, so we had a brief conversation about how basketball is diving into analytics as well, and obviously, we’re an analytical organization.”
Christian hoped to have lunch or dinner with Bell before the season is over.
“Hopefully I get a chance to connect with him more this year,’’ Christian said. “I’m really impressed with him.”
msingelais@timesunion.com ■ 518-454-5509 ■ @MarkSingelais
https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/ValleyCats-lose-in-ninth-inning-to-Vermont-13002401.php
