Fabian Homer, Strong Pitching Give Paints 4-2 Win over Johnstown

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Chillicothe Paints, presented by CohenOrthopedic, took advantage of strong pitching and a few timely hits Wednesday, defeating the Johnstown Mill Rats 4-2 at VA Memorial Stadium.

Garrett Helsel earned his third win of the season in only his third start of the year. The lefty allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits while walking two and striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the second with Jhors Gomez at second after a leadoff single and an error, Samuel Fabian hit his Prospect League-leading fourth home run of the season, putting the Paints in from 2-1.

Chillicothe (8-3) made it a 3-1 ballgame in the bottom of the fourth on Clay Burdette's two-out RBI single.

Johnstown (7-6) got it back to a one-run game in the top of the fifth, scoring on a groundout by Peyton Starr, cutting the Chillicothe lead to 3-2.

The Paints tallied the game's final run in the bottom of the sixth. Gomez tripled to open the inning and Graham Solak, who came in the pinch run for Gomez at third, scored on Burdette's sacrifice fly, making it 4-2.

Cayden Robinson took over on the mound for Chillicothe with one out in the top of the seventh, finishing the final 2 2/3 innings striking out four and issuing one walk. Robinson earned the save, the first for a Chillicothe pitcher this season.

The Paints host the Champion City Kings at 7:05 p.m. Thursday night at VA Memorial Stadium. Draft beer is just $2 for Thirsty Thursday.