Barr Blisters Rangers

 The Dayton Rangers still do not have an answer for perennial Rangers killer Damon Barr. Barr single-handedly defeated the Rangers twice in 2006 with his bat, but this time around it was his pitching that did in the Rangers.

Barr started on the mound for the Panthers in the first game of Sunday’s double header and gave up a first inning home run to Clint Wolf before silencing the opposition over six innings.

The Panthers tied the game at 1-1 when Randy Haines homered to right field in the top of the second inning. The Panthers piled on four more in the third with the help of a pair of walks and two fielding miscues. Haines doubled in two more runs and Kuhn singled in another. Two more came across in the fourth on a throwing error and a sac fly to give the Panthers a 7-1 lead after four innings.

The Panthers held an 8-1 advantage into the seventh when the Rangers started a late rally with five straight hits, but could only muster three runs for an 8-4 final score.

Offensive performances of note: Jeremy Lippincott 3-for-3; Joe Staten 2-for-2 BB; Clint Wolf hit his first HR of the season giving him 18 for his career, and one shy of third place in Rangers history (Matt Caraway has 19).

Defensive performances of note: An unbelievable double play was turned by the Rangers in the top of the first inning. With runners on first and second and one out, the Panthers “Doc” Hayes drove a ball to deep centerfield which caromed off the top of the yellow tubing. Clint Wolf sprinted back to the fence and caught the rebound and hurled the ball back to the cutoff man Steve Marshall. With both Panther runners getting the green light to round third base (only feet apart from one another), Marshall turned and fired a one-hopper to the plate, where catcher Shane Fallen scooped and tagged the first Panther runner and promptly tagged the second runner sliding in from behind for a double play. The Rangers turned three double plays on the day.