Stewart Saves The Day in Extra Inning, Walk-Off Thriller

[weams]

Brendan Gulick

Lakewood and Delmarva have played five contests in the past eight days and each of them has been incredibly well-pitched. Thursday night in Delmarva was no exception, as the Shorebirds and BlueClaws needed 11 innings before DJ Stewart singled home Cedric Mullins for a 1-0 win at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

Reid Love, Garrett Cleavinger and Christian Turnipseed (1-1) completely overpowered Lakewood Thursday night. In the fifth Shorebirds shutout of the year, the trio struck out 16 and never issued a walk. In fact, Lakewood never got a runner to third base, and at one point, the two lefties retired 17 straight hitters.

Offensively, the Shorebirds (27-19) had another tough time against Harold Arauz. He went eight frames and kept Delmarva off the board, while scattering just four hits. The Shorebirds best chance against Arauz came in the eighth, but Natanael Delgado was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on an errand throw down the line. He was running from second to third on a sacrifice bunt, and catcher Austin Bossart?s attempt to peg the lead runner went wildly to the corner. But Venn Biter alertly backed up the play and Delgado failed to score the game?s first run on a perfect relay to the plate.

Delmarva finally cracked through against Sutter McLoughlin in the 11th. Cedric Mullins drew a lead-off walk and quickly went to second base on Austin Anderson?s sac bunt. Stewart wasted little time ripping a single past first baseman Brendon Hayden and into right field. Jose Pujols threw out two runners at the plate last weekend, but his throw home this time wasn?t nearly quick enough to beat Delmarva?s best baserunner in Mullins and the Shorebirds took the series opener.

[Frobby]

Stewart has one of the more bizarre slash lines you'll see -- .217/.381/.341. His walk rate is 18.8%, while his K rate is 21.6%. It's unusual to see that many walks from a guy who isn't hitting for much power. Also, for a pudgy guy, he runs a lot -- 9 stolen bases and 5 CS. He's been the kind of novelty act who might be kind of interesting if he was our 15th round pick instead of our 1st.

[bobmc]

Stewart has one of the more bizarre slash lines you'll see -- .217/.381/.341. His walk rate is 18.8%, while his K rate is 21.6%. It's unusual to see that many walks from a guy who isn't hitting for much power. Also, for a pudgy guy, he runs a lot -- 9 stolen bases and 5 CS. He's been the kind of novelty act who might be kind of interesting if he was our 15th round pick instead of our 1st.

Cedric Mullins, now, is the kind of "novelty act" that warms our hearts!

[Ruzious]

Time to promote Cleavinger. 5-0, 1 something ERA, 42 SO/10 W's in 28 innings. He's 22 and was a high pick - doesn't make much sense to keep him in low A.

[Frobby]

Time to promote Cleavinger. 5-0, 1 something ERA, 42 SO/10 W's in 28 innings. He's 22 and was a high pick - doesn't make much sense to keep him in low A.

With the move of Yacobonis to Bowie, there's room in the Frederick bullpen. I'm also wondering if Gonzalez may move up to take Means' spot.

[ReclaimTheCrown]

With the move of Yacobonis to Bowie, there's room in the Frederick bullpen. I'm also wondering if Gonzalez may move up to take Means' spot.

Both of those moves make sense to me. Would like to see it happen.

[backwardsk]

Stewart went yard tonight.

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