Legends take shine away from Suns

On Friday, the Hagerstown Suns walked off with a win.

On Saturday, they were stopped in their tracks.


Lexington took all the spring out of Hagerstown’s step as Dave Rollins and Juri Perez combined on a four-hit shutout to lead the Legends to an 8-0 victory on Saturday at Municipal Stadium.

Zach Johnson and Matt Duffy drove in three runs each for Lexington to end Hagerstown’s three-game win streak. Johnson leads the South Atlantic League with 97 RBIs, including 30 against Hagerstown.

The loss dropped the Suns (66-46, 24-19) into a tie with West Virginia for first place in the Northern Division’s second-half standings.

Lexington went to work early against Suns starter Chris McKenzie (2-4) with a run in the first inning.

Johnson put the Legends on top with a two-out solo home run to left, his 15th of the season, to give Lexington a 1-0 lead.

The Legends extended their lead with two runs in the fourth, starting with another homer.

Duffy led off with a drive over the wall in center field for his 14th homer of the season. Brandon Meredith followed with a double to left and scored on Jose Fernandez’s two-out single to left for a 3-0 lead.

Lexington knocked McKenzie out of the game in the fifth after Ruben Sosa drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on Duffy’s two-out double.

Richie Mirowski came in to relieve McKenzie but couldn’t prevent a run from scoring. Mirowski hit Meredith with a pitch to load the bases before walking Emilo King to give Lexington a 4-0 lead.

The Legends weren’t done as they added an insurance run in the seventh against Mirowski.

Duffy was hit by a pitch with one out and took second on a balk before scoring on King’s single to grab a five-run lead.

Lexington salted the game away with three more runs in the eighth against Hagerstown reliever Alex Kries.

Johnson hit a two-run double with the bases loaded and one out before Duffy followed with a sacrifice fly.

McKenzie pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits while striking out five.

Rollins (1-0) held the Suns on two hits over five scoreless innings before Perez pitched the final four innings, allowing two hits to earn his first save.