Paints Drop Back-And-Forth Affair With Johnstown

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, tied the ballgame three separate times and took one brief lead, but ultimately fell to the Johnstown Mill Rats Tuesday night at VA Memorial Stadium by the score of 8-6.

The Mill Rats (3-4) took their first lead of the game in the top of the first. Miguel Vega reached on an infield hit to lead off the game, stealing second base and advancing to third on a balk. Clay Wiesen singled, scoring Vega and making it 1-0.

Chillicothe (5-3) answered immediately, Cameron Bowen led off the bottom of the first with a single, advancing to second on a single by Tim Orr, third on a groundout and scoring on Arturo Disla's two-out, RBI single, tying the game at 1-1.

The Mill Rats took their second lead in the top of the second, whith Jack Rogers reaching to open the inning on an error and scoring three batters later on a sacrifice fly by Brad Vargas, giving Johnstown a 2-1 lead.

They made it 3-1 in the third, thanks to a two-out, solo home run from Morgan Wyatt.

The Paints tied it at 3-3 in the bottom of the third, getting four consecutive singles from Brayden White, Disla, Victor Figueroa and Gavin Ganun. Disla's knocked home White and Tyler Mendez drove home Disla later in the inning with an infield hit.

A lead off triple by Jalen Freeman opened the fourth for the Mill Rats, Eli Sutton hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Freeman and giving Jonstown its third lead at 4-3. 

Chillicothe again tied the game in the next half-inning. Bowen reached on an error, scoring on a double play hit into by Disla.

The Paints took their only lead of the night in the sixth. Sammy Stoner bunted his was aboard to start the inning, moving to second on a wild pitch and scoring on an RBI single by Orr. A groundout, a steal of third and Disla third run-producing hit of the night brought Orr home, making it 6-4 Chillicothe after six.

Johnstown was able to tie the game with a pair of runs in the eighth. After a walk and a hit batter and a bunt single loaded the bases with no outs, Vega knocked one home on a groundout and Weisen brought the other home on a sacrifice fly, making it 6-6.

The Mill Rats took their fourth and final lead in the ninth, opening the inning with back-to-back doubles by Wyatt and Rogers for the first run. Rogers scored on an RBI hit by Freeman, making it 8-6 Johnstown.

Chillicothe got a lead off double from Figueroa to open the bottom of the ninth, but he was stranded, giving Johnstown the 8-6 victory.

Caden Kline (0-1) took the loss for Chillicothe in relief after two-plus innings of work and allowing two runs on one hit, two walks and a hit batter. Kline also struck out two. Tyler Horvat (1-0) earned the win in relied for Johnstown, throwing the final 3 1/3 innings for the Mill Rats, while not allowing a run on two hits, a walk and striking out two.

The Paints and Mill Rats play again Wednesday at VA Memorial Stadium, first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. and the first 500 fans will receive a free Paints 30th Season t-shirt, courtesy of Shine Orthodontics and it's Winning Wednesday, so lucky scorecard holders will win free gas from Valero.

Fans can hear the game on 100.9 WXIZ, ChillicothePaints.com and the Paints' mobile app. The contest has also been selected by the Prospect League as the "Prospect League TV Free Game of the Week", meaning fans unable to make it to the game can watch on the league's live streaming service without a subscription.