By Joe Lemire

Contributing Writer

LOWELL — Lowell pitching spun a masterpiece in the Mill City Tuesday night.

Four Lowell pitchers combined to allow one earned run, eight hits and no walks as the Spinners pulled within 1½ games of Oneonta atop the Stedler Division with a 3-2 victory over the Tigers.

The Spinners (31-23) evened its five-part series against the O-Tigers (32-21) at two games apiece. The series ends at 7 tonight at LeLaucher Park before the O-Tigers travel to Vermont for a four-game set against the Expos.

Losing pitcher Matt O’Brien (4-2) and reliever Matt Norfleet kept the Tigers in it until the end, but Oneonta stranded the po[an error occurred while processing this directive]tential tying run at third in the ninth.

Cory Middleton started Oneonta’s last-inning rally with a routine grounder to the left side. Lowell shortstop Jed Lowrie sailed his throw to first, allowing Middleton to reach base.

Lowell reliever Argimiro Guanchez struck out the next two batters, but in the process, Middleton advanced to third on two wild pitches. After working the count full, Brandon Timm hit a hard grounder up the middle. Lowrie made up for his earlier error by tracking the ball down and throwing to first to beat Timm by a half-step.

Lowell allowed one unearned run through seven innings to take a 3-1 lead, but Oneonta pulled within 3-2 in the eighth.

Joel Roa opened with his second single and was replaced by pinch-runner Jeramy Laster. He moved to second when William Rhymes grounded out to Lowrie at short, then came home when Matt Joyce singled to right off side-arm reliever Blake Maxwell.

"With a sidewinder, you’re going to see the ball up and he left one up," said Joyce, who also singled in the first. "I just tried to pull it and get the runner over so one of the guys behind me could knock him, but it found a hole."

The Tigers put runners on in seven innings but failed to sustain an offensive charge.

"You go through streaks like that," O-Tigers manager Tom Brookens said. "It’s just part of the game. You try to talk to the guys about their approach at the plate, about trying to put the bat on the ball and move a runner over."

Lowell starter Clay Buchholz pitched three scoreless innings before Oneonta tied the score at 1 with an unearned run in the fifth off reliever Chris Jones (1-0). Roa knocked in Timm, who singled and moved to second on a fielding error by third baseman Matthew Mercurio.

Jones struck out five in three innings before Maxwell and Guanchez closed the victory. Guanchez struck out two in 1 1/3 innings for his seventh save.

"The whole staff was doing a very good job of hitting their spots and moving the ball on the corner and leaving the hitters off balance," Joyce said. "It’s tough to lose a ballgame that close because those are the games you know you can win."

Jason Twomley fell a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a leadoff homer to right-center in the third for Lowell.

"We can’t seem to figure that guy out," Brookens said. "He seems to hit the ball hard most of the time. We’re going to have to take a good look at what we’re throwing him because whatever it is isn’t working. We’re going to have deal with him because we’ve got six more games with these guys to go."

O’Brien allowed three hits and two runs through six innings before Lowell chased him in the seventh. Three of Lowell’s first four batters in the seventh had hits, including an RBI single by Jacob Ellsbury.

"O’Brien gave us a quality outing," Brookens said. "He wasn’t so much out of gas (in the seventh), but they were hitting the ball pretty hard off him. His pitch count was in the mid-80s, so I thought I’d make a change."

With one out in the seventh, Norfleet inherited two runners from O’Brien — and added a third with a walk — but got out of the inning with two strikeouts.

The league’s top two run-scoring offenses combined for 19 runs in Friday’s opener but have scored 14 in their last three meetings.

"Surprisingly, it’s been low-scoring games," Brookens said. "I thought we had a chance to win that game with a run in the eighth and a man on with one out in the ninth. But you need a big hit at that point."

• Gibbs Wilson, selected in the 36th round of this year’s amateur baseball draft, was assigned to the O-Tigers, business manager John Nader said Tuesday. As of Tuesday, however, he wasn’t activated for the roster.

Wilson, a 6-foot-2 right-handed pitcher from Abilene, Texas, played for Weatherford College (Texas) this past spring. The Coyotes finished 33-22.

TUESDAY’S O-TIGERS BOX SCORE

ONEONTA ÐØÐØØØ Ø LOWELL ÐØÐØ Ø

ab r h bi Ø ÐØÐØØØ ab r h bi

Rhymes 2b 4Ø0Ø1Ø0 Ellsbury cf 3Ø0Ø1Ø1

Joyce rf 4Ø0Ø2Ø1 Johnson lf 4Ø0Ø1Ø1

Hollimon ss 4Ø0Ø0Ø0 Lowrie ss 2Ø0Ø0Ø0

Justice cf 4Ø0Ø0Ø0 Mercurio 3b 4Ø0Ø0Ø0

Middletn 3b 4Ø0Ø1Ø0 Soto dh 2Ø0Ø0Ø0

Robersn 1b 4Ø0Ø1Ø0 Yema rf 4Ø0Ø0Ø0

Cotto dh 3Ø0Ø0Ø0 Twombly 1b 4Ø1Ø3Ø1

Patino dh 1Ø0Ø0Ø0 Kelley 2b 4Ø2Ø2Ø0

Timm lf 4Ø1Ø1Ø0 Wagner c 3Ø0Ø0Ø0

Roa c 3Ø0Ø2Ø1 Stchwsky c 0Ø0Ø0Ø0

Laster pr 0Ø1Ø0Ø0

Torres 0Ø0Ø0Ø0 ÐÐØÐ

Totals ÐØ 35 2 8 2 Totals ÐÐ 35Ø7Ø9Ø7

Oneonta 000010010 2

Lowell 00101010x 3

E—Mercurio (17), Ellsbury (12). DP—Oneonta 1, Lowell 1. LOB—Oneonta 6, Lowell 8. 2B—Twombley (11). HR—Twombley (5). SB—Johnson (3), Ellsbury (12).

IPÐÐHÐRERÐBBÐSO

ÐOneonta ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØÐØ

O’Brien L, 4-2 Ø61-3ØØØ6ÐØ3ÐØ3ÐØ3ÐØ1

Norfleet Ø12-3ØØØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1ÐØ3

ÐLowell ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØ ÐØØ ÐØÐØ

Buchholz Ø3ØØØØ3ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ1

Jones W, 1-0 Ø3ØØØØ3ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ5

Maxwell ØØ12-3ØØ2ÐØ1ÐØ1ÐØ0ÐØ1

Guanchez S, 7 Ø11-3ØØ0ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ0ÐØ2

HBP—by Norfleet (Soto). WP—Guanchez 2.

Umpires—Home, Brad Myers; First, DeAndre Anderson.

T—2:39. A—5,000.

NY-PENN LEAGUE STANDINGS

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Staten Island (Yanks) Ø35ØØ18ØØ.660ØØØ—Ð

Williamsprt (Pirates) Ø32ØØ23ØØ.582ÐØØ4Ð

Brooklyn (Mets) Ø28ØØ26ØØ.519ÐØØ7½

Hudson Vly (DRays) Ø26ØØ26ØØ.500ÐØØ8½

New Jersey (Cards) Ø26ØØ29ØØ.473ÐØ10Ð

Aberdeen (Orioles) Ø19ØØ35ØØ.352ÐØ16½

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Auburn (Blue Jays) Ø32ØØ23ØØ.582ØØØ—Ð

Mhnng Vly (Indians) Ø28ØØ27ØØ.509ÐØØ4Ð

Jamestown (Marlins) Ø23ØØ32ØØ.418ÐØØ9Ð

Batavia (Phillies) Ø21ØØ33ØØ.389ÐØ10½

ØØWØØØLØØPct.ØØØGB

Oneonta (Tigers) Ø32ØØ21ØØ.604ØØØ—Ð

Lowell (Red Sox) Ø31ØØ23ØØ.574ÐØØ1½

Tri-City (Astros) Ø28ØØ26ØØ.519ÐØØ4½

Vermont (Nationals) Ø18ØØ37ØØ.327ÐØ15Ð

———

Brooklyn 3, New Jersey 2, 10 innings

Auburn 3, Batavia 1

Aberdeen 4, Hudson Valley 3, 10 innings

Jamestown 5, Mahoning Valley 2

Lowell 3, Oneonta 2

Tri-City 12, Vermont 8

Staten Island 3, Williamsport 2

Batavia at Auburn

Hudson Valley at Aberdeen

Mahoning Valley at Jamestown

New Jersey at Brooklyn

Oneonta at Lowell

Tri-City at Vermont

Williamsport at Staten Island