Gaithersburg Giants Red center fielder Cody Acker said he believes he scored the tying run in his squad’s 8-7 loss to the Baltimore Chop Monday at Joe Cannon Stadium (Hanover). He said he could have proven it to the home plate umpire had he glanced at the plate.

Instead, Acker was called out -- the umpire said he missed the plate while attempting to score on an attempted double play in the eighth inning. The Giants stranded two more runners in the inning to drop their record to 9-10.

“I thought they were so focused on getting that out at first, that I could take home,” said Acker, who tripled among two hits, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs in the road setback. “The [catcher] caught the ball and my hand caught the plate but the umpire, I guess, didn’t see it.

“My argument was my hand print was on the plate and dragged out for a foot and a half. Apparently he didn’t think the same thing. It was a tough loss. We went down early and had a lot of errors.”

The disappointing ending followed a furious comeback by Gaithersburg, which trailed 6-0 after the first inning of play through a trio of hits, including a run-scoring triple by Kory Britton, and three errors.

Acker’s triple to left center field and a run-scoring groundout by Collin McGowan trimmed that deficit to 6-2 in the top of the third. The Giants tied the score with four runs on a couple of errors as well as a run-scoring groundout by Kevin Baron and a run-scoring single by Billy Plante (2-for-4, walk) in the fourth.

“We fought the entire way; we just couldn’t get over the hill,” Giants coach Scott Blackwood said. “It’s tough when you go down 6-0 in the first inning but I mean that shows a lot of about the character of these guys -- they don’t stop fighting. We had a couple of opportunities that we missed and a bang-bang play at home really changed the momentum from that point on.”

The first-place Chop (14-7) regained the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch and a run-scoring single by Zach Stavish for an 8-6 advantage. McGowan trimmed that deficit to 8-7 in the eighth with a single to left center field to score Brady Bassford (3-for-4, 3 runs).

Acker was on second and McGowan on first when Baron grounded into the attempted double play that ended with Acker being tagged out at the plate. With two on and two out, Matt Kohn struck out to end the threat. The Giants when down in order in the ninth.

jpeters@gazette.net

Baltimore Chop 8, Gaithersburg Giants Red 7

Gaithersburg (9-10) 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 1 0 7 11 5

Baltimore (14-7) 6 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 x 8 7 3

WP Kyle Pullen. LP Chad Martin. 2B: Baltimore Bobby Hite, Zach Stavish. 3B: Gaithersburg Cody Acker. Baltimore Kory Britton. RBI: Gaithersburg Cody Acker 2, Collin McGowan 2, Kevin Baron, Billy Plante. Baltimore Zach Stavish 2, Kory Britton, Bobby Hite.