Broncos lose 5th straight

ROBSTOWN — The Laredo Broncos battled, but an error in the bottom of the ninth led to the Costal Bend Thunder sweeping the Broncos by a score of 3-2 at Fairgrounds Field.

The Broncos had runners on first and third with no one out in the first inning, but Mario Mendez, Argelis Nuñez, and Andres Santos were not able to bring the runner in from third.

However, the Thunder would strike in their half of the first. Dustin Smith led off with a single and then stole both second and third. Then with 1 out Leivi Ventura hit a sacrifice fly giving them the 1-0 lead.

Costal Bend would strike again in the bottom of the second. With 2 outs and runners on the corner, Kevin Butler hit a rbi single scoring Casey Gordon, and making the score 2-0.

The Broncos would crack the scoreboard in the 4th inning. With 1 out, Andres “El Monkey” Santos came up and hit a solo home run, his second of the season.

The next batter, David Cardona, also hit a solo home run, his second of the season. The back-to-back home runs tied the game at 2.

Broncos starter Gregorio Martinez was sailing along in his outing but ran into trouble in the eighth.

Michael Lewis led off with a walk and then stole second. After a groundout moved him to third, the Broncos intentionally walked Manny Mejia. Laredo would then take out Martinez to bring in the lefty Edgar Soto to face the lefty Juvy Ibarra.

Soto would strike out Ibarra for the second out. Julio Pinto would then come in to face the right handed hitting Amadeo Zazueta. Pinto would get him to fly out to end the threat and keep the score tied at 2.

Martinez would get a no decision going 7 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs on seven hits. He also walked two batters and stuck out two. Julio Pinto would stay in the game to pitch the 9th inning and gave up a lead off double to Casey Gordon.

After he intentionally walked Bryan Vickers, the Broncos brought in Tristan Crawford. Crawford would then intentionally walk Kevin Butler to load the bases.

Dustin Smith then hit a slow roller to Rafael Ozuna at short who couldn’t handle it, allowing the winning run to score.

The Broncos scored two runs on eight hits and had three errors while the Thunder scored three runs on eight hits and had one error.

The Broncos are now 2-10 on the season, while the Thunder are 7-5.

The Broncos have today off and will play next on Wednesday at Veterans Field as they open up a 4-game series against the Amarillo Dillas at 7:30 p.m.