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Mitchellville native L.J. Hoes went 2 for 5 with an RBI and a run scored in his debut with the Bowie Baysox on Monday night, helping fuel the offense as Bowie beat the Akron Aeros, 10-5, in the first of a three-game series in Akron, Ohio.

The Aeros bounced back with a 4-0 shutout victory on Tuesday night. The teams were scheduled to finish the series with a game Wednesday night after The Gazette went to press, and the Baysox will open a four-game series at Prince George's Stadium in Bowie against the New Britain Rock Cats at 7:05 p.m. today.

The 20-year-old Hoes, a second baseman who played at St. John's College High in Washington, D.C., was the Orioles' third-round draft pick in 2008. He started this season with the Class A Aberdeen IronBirds, but quickly was promoted to Baltimore's long-season Class A team in Frederick after hitting .464 with a homer and five RBIs in eight games. He played 60 games for Frederick, hitting .289 with two homers and 27 RBIs.

His stay with the Baysox may be a short one, as he is filling a roster spot temporarily vacated by Joel Guzman. The team's leader in home runs (22) and RBIs (69), Guzman had to travel to New York City this week to complete the process of becoming a United States citizen. Guzman is from the Dominican Republic.

Hoes went 0 for 4 on Tuesday, but he got off to a solid start in Monday's game. Serving as the Baysox designated hitter, he singled in his first at-bat in the second inning, and he singled home a run and later scored in a three-run fifth inning.

The Baysox headed to Akron after splitting a four-game series at Prince George's Stadium against the Richmond Flying Squirrels last weekend. In the top of the fifth inning of Sunday evening's series finale, Bowie starting pitcher Steve Johnson encountered the type of trouble that had been plaguing him through most of the season.

Johnson, a Baltimore native, lost six of his first eight decisions primarily because he was unable to get ahead in the count and had difficulty keeping his breaking pitches down in the strike zone, resulting in an ERA of more than 6.00. But in his last two starts, including Sunday's 4-3 victory, Johnson avoided the big inning.

"My command has been struggling for a while," said Johnson, who allowed two runs on five hits and three walks in six innings while throwing strikes on 57 of 97 pitches. "To have these last couple of starts as consistent as I was with my curveball helped. My slider and changeup are still works in progress."

Bowie gave Johnson a 3-0 lead, as Tucker singled home a run in the second inning and Guzman and Brandon Waring had RBI singles in the third. In the top of the fifth, Johnson yielded a leadoff double to Conor Gillaspie and then Brad Boyer followed with an RBI single. Johnson then issued a one-out walk to Tyler La Torre, and Clay Timpner followed with a sacrifice fly that allowed Boyer to score. Johnson yielded two-out walks to Brandon Ford and Nick Noonan to load the bases, but struck out Thomas Neal to end the threat. Johnson started a 1-3-6 double play to end the sixth, his last inning.

"Steve did a much better job of keeping his breaking pitches down and getting ahead of the hitters," said Bowie manager Brad Komminsk. "He's done a better job of that the last two starts. He ran into a little trouble in the fifth, but he was able to get out of it by getting that last strikeout. It's always fun coming to work, but I guess it's a little more fun when you're winning and you have a chance to make the playoffs."

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.