Bauer returns with 10 strikeouts as Ducks beat Lancaster 7-2

Trevor Bauer did not just return to the Long Island Ducks on Sunday afternoon. He tilted the game back in their favor the moment he took the mound, striking out 10 Lancaster hitters in five innings as the Ducks beat the Stormers 7-2 at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip.

The win closed out the final game of a six-game series and pushed Long Island into a road doubleheader at Staten Island with a rotation piece that looked fully in control. Bauer improved to 5-1, allowing only two hits and one run in his first start since May 17, when back spasms sent him to the injured list.

Lancaster drew first blood when Nate Martorella led off the second inning with a solo homer to right. Long Island answered immediately. Aaron Takacs came through with a two-out opposite-field homer in the bottom half, and that swing changed the tone for good. Instead of letting Bauer pitch from behind, the Ducks matched the blast and kept the pressure squarely on the Stormers.

From there, Long Island started stacking base runners and taking the game apart inning by inning. Takacs added an RBI single in the fourth, Jacob Robson pushed across another run with a bunt single in the fifth, and the Ducks broke it open in the sixth. Alsander Womack singled in Jorge Bonifacio, then Takacs scored on a dropped-third-strike passed ball to stretch the lead to 5-1.

Lancaster briefly cut into the margin in the seventh on a Jalen Battles RBI single, but Long Island answered right back. Marcus Chiu reached on an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 6-2, and Wilmer Difo finished the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Matt Swarmer took the loss for Lancaster after allowing four runs in 5.1 innings. Takacs finished with two hits and two RBI, Womack had three hits and an RBI, and Robson added two hits, an RBI, a run and a steal. The Ducks did not need a long bullpen bridge because Bauer had already done the heavy lifting.

That is the bigger story for Long Island. Bauer entered the start at 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 37.0 innings across six starts, and his ceiling keeps showing through whenever he is on the mound. He threw a no-hitter on April 25 in game one of a doubleheader against Lancaster at Penn Medicine Park, the third no-hitter in Ducks history and the ninth in Atlantic League history, then set the franchise single-game strikeout record with 15 against Gastonia on May 12. When Bauer is healthy, Long Island looks like a different club, and Sunday was another reminder that the Ducks’ fortunes swing hard with him.