When it rains, it pours – so the Medicine Hat Mavericks were glad the actual precipitation waited long enough for them to officially end their worst losing streak in a decade.
At Lethbridge Thursday, the Mavs led the Bulls 13-1 in the top of the sixth before rain led umpires to call it a night.
Medicine Hat, which had lost its previous eight outings – including three against the Bulls – got two runs in the first inning, another in the second and seven in a game-breaking third to reverse the trend they’d seen of big innings turning close games into blowouts.
“Lib (pitching coach Jared Libke) called it,” texted Mavs head coach Tom Vessella. “the only thing to break this streak up was going to be a blowout.”
Jaymon Cervantes got the win, striking out five in five innings and getting out of two key bases-loaded jams. Nolan Rattai, Sal Rodriguez and Cameron Pope each had 2 RBI. Leadoff man Freddy Walker reached base and scored his first three times to the plate, and every player in the Mavs batting order had a hit.
Conor Breding took the loss for the Bulls, pulled in the third. Robert Bostedt’s home run was the only run of the night for the home team, which fell to 10-8.
Now 7-12, Medicine Hat hosts Edmonton tonight to start a three-game set ending Sunday with a 2:05 p.m. start.
