The rain didn’t keep the season’s largest crowd away from the Butler BlueSox game Monday night.

The BlueSox helped keep themselves away from victory, however.

On the heels of a 7-6, 11-inning loss to Chillicothe Sunday night at Kelly Automotive Park, Butler pitchers walked 10 batters — half of them scoring — in a 9-2 loss before 1,226 Monday evening.

“Chillicothe is too good a team to hand them 10 baserunners,” BlueSox manager Jason Radwan said. “You walk 10 guys against any team and you’re in trouble. You can’t win that way.”

The BlueSox (2-3 in the second half) used five pitchers Monday night after using six hurlers on Sunday.

Paints leadoff hitter Stewart Nelson walked four times and scored three times. Michael Blatchford’s single to left plated him in the first inning. Nelson scored on Jamie Lackner’s three-run double in the second as the competitive portion of this game got away early.

BlueSox starting pitcher David Calderon threw 63 pitches in the first two innings alone and was done after four frames.

“He’s got good stuff, but he’s had control issues we’re trying to work on with him,” Radwan said.

The BlueSox runs occurred when Will Schneider singled and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth, and when Pavin Parks walked and scored on Tyler Niemann’s single to right in the fifth.

Chillicothe out-hit Butler 12-6. The first four batters in the Paints’ lineup — Nelson, Blatchford, Lackner and Dalton Bollinger — combined for eight hits, five walks, eight RBI and five runs.

“We just don’t seem to play well in front of big crowds,” Radwan said. “I don’t know what it is ... We were timid and didn’t show very much energy.

“It’s a sad thing because some of these guys will never play in front of a crowd as big as this one tonight.”

Chillicothe got off to a 4-1 start in the Prospect League’s second half by sweeping the two games at Butler over the holiday weekend. The Paints rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the late innings Sunday night to pull out the 7-6 win.

“We finished off threats offensively, which was great to see because we hadn’t been doing that,” Chillicothe manager Brian Bigam said. “We hit some sacrifice flies, moved runners ... good situational hitting.”

Sunday’s loss spoiled a quality start by Butler right-hander David Lemasters. He allowed one run on five hits in six innings, striking out six. But he threw 102 pitches in those six frames and had to give way to the bullpen.

“The pitch count got him in trouble, but he pitched well enough to win,” Radwan said. “He deserved better. And with 15 hits and six runs, we should have won.

“The team that does the little things right wins games like this. We didn’t do that.”

Schneider had a double, two singles and four RBI for the BlueSox. Kristian Webb, a freshman catcher from California (Pa.) University, had three singles and two RBI.

Webb, a catcher, just joined the BlueSox Sunday and had five hits in the two games.

Blatchford had two doubles, a single and three runs scored for Chillicothe.

“We never gave up on this (Sunday) game,” Big am said. “This is a big one for us. These games head-to-head in the division mean a lot.”

The two teams meet again Wednesday in Chillicothe. The BlueSox do not return home until Sunday, when they host Champion City before the all-star break.

“I think the second-half race will be tight again,” Radwan said. “We’ve got a shot, but we have to start playing better.

“We’re a better team than we’ve shown these past two nights.”

Monday’s Game

Chillicothe 130 021 101 — 9 12 0

BlueSox 000 110 000 — 2 6 2

W: Brendan Burns 5IP (8K, 1BB). L: David Calderon 4IP (5K, 4BB).

Chillicothe (4-1, 18-16): Stewart Nelson 1B RBI 3-R, Michael Blatchford 3-1B 2-RBI, Jamie Lackner 2-2B 3-RBI, Dalton Bollinger 2B 1B 2-RBI, Bradley Boss 1B RBI 3-R, Eli Boggess 3-1B

Butler (2-3, 16-19): Nick Stotler 1B, Will Schneider 2-1B, Kristian Webb 2-1B, Tyler Niemann 1B RBI

Sunday’s Game

Chillicothe 100 000 210 12 — 7 14 0

BlueSox 100 020 010 11 — 6 15 1

W: Brady Ward 2IP (2K, 1BB). L: Colin Macon 0IP (0K, 2BB).

Chillicothe: Stewart Nelson 2-1B, Michael Blatchford 2-2B 1B RBI 3-R, Jamie Lackner 1B RBI, Dalton Bollinger 1B RBI, Jesse Forestell 2-1B, Jack Thompson 1B, Eli Boggess RBI, Nate Grys 2-1B RBI, Nicholas Ryan 2-1B 2-RBI

Butler: Tyler Sullivan 1B 2B 3-R, Dalton Hoiles 2-1B, Tommy Baggett 1B, Will Schneider 2B 2-1B 4-RBI, Jamie Switalski 1B, Dillopn Sunnafrank 1B, Pavin Parks 1B, Kristian Webb 3-1B 2-RBI, Nick Stotler 2B

Wednesday: Butler at Chillicothe