Sunday Round-Up

[weams]

Will Deboer

The Delmarva Shorebirds dropped their eighth game out of nine on Saturday night, falling 7-2 to the Greensboro Grasshoppers in front of almost 7,000 fans at First National Bank Field.

Ben Meyer (2-0) earned the win in relief for the Grasshoppers (24-17), allowing one run on one hit in two innings. He came on for starter Braxton Garrett, who lasted four innings and gave up an unearned run on four hits. Travis Seabrooke (1-3) took the loss for the Shorebirds (16-24), allowing five runs (three earned) on three hits in five innings, walking three and striking out six.

After a pair of scoreless frames, Greensboro hopped in front in the bottom of the third. Jarett Rindfleisch led off with a walk, and Luis Pintor followed with a walk two batters later. Aaron Knapp belted a double down the left field line to score Rindfleisch and break the ice. After a strikeout, a Jerry McClanahan passed ball trickled to the backstop and allowed Pintor to race home. James Nelson made it a three-spot with a two-out RBI single, putting the Grasshoppers on top 3-0.

Delmarva got one back in the top of the fourth. Gerrion Grim, Preston Palmeiro, and Frank Crinella all singled with one out to load the bases. McClanahan then hit a weak grounder to third base. James Nelson threw home to try for the force, but the throw sailed behind catcher Rindfleisch, allowing Grim to score and make it 3-1. Tanner Kirk followed by rolling into a double play, ending the threat.

A walk and an error put two men on for Greensboro in their half of the fourth, and Pintor dropped a soft liner into left for a two-out double, chasing both runners home to make it 5-1.

Palmeiro cracked a deep solo home run to right center in the sixth inning. He now has three homers this season, two of which have come at First National Bank Field.

Greensboro added a run for good measure in both the seventh and eighth innings. Pintor singled in the seventh and scored ahead of a Corey Bird double. In the eighth, singles by Eric Gutierrez, Justin Twine, and Walker Olis loaded the bases, and Pintor again produced with a sac fly to center, giving the game its final margin.

Palmeiro finished 2-for-3 with the home run to lead Delmarva at the plate. Grim finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pintor got on base three times, going 2-for-2 with a double, walk, two runs, and three RBIs. Knapp and Bird each had run-scoring doubles for the Grasshoppers.

Delmarva struck out 15 times on the night. Michael Mertz had three punchouts in two scoreless innings for the hold, while Marcus Crescentini struck out the side in a spotless ninth.

Kyke Huson

 

The Frederick Keys (22-20) hit a season-high four home runs on their way to a 10-1 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks (20-22) on Saturday night at Nymeo Field. The Keys scored in each of their first five innings and collected 13 hits.

 

Stevie Wilkerson started off the Keys half of the first with a strikeout on a ball in the dirt, but a wild throw from Blue Rocks catcher Chase Vallot allowed him to reach second base. After Austin Hays advanced Wilkerson to third on a ground out, Ryan Mountcastle knocked him in with a single to left field. Shane Hoelscher followed with a bloop single to right field, and Ademar Rifaela brought everyone home with a towering home run to right center field off of Blue Rocks starter Scott Blewett. It was the fifth home run of the year for Rifaela, and made the score 4-0 after one.

 

The Keys tacked on two more runs in the second inning. Drew Turbin swung at the first pitch he saw and cranked his first home run of the year over all three levels of billboards in right field. Wilkerson singled two batters later and came around to score on Mountcastle’s second hit and RBI of the game, making it 6-0.

 

The third home run for the Keys came off the bat of Josh Hart, when he led off the third with a solo shot to right field. Frederick added another run in the fourth when Hoelscher collected his third hit of the game with a double to deep left center field, scoring Mountcastle.

 

Two more runs were plated in the fifth and came courtesy of Turbin’s second home run of the game. After Steve Laurino singled, Turbin launched a Franco Terrero pitch to right for his first career multi home run game, giving the Keys 10 runs on the night.

 

Wilmington scored their only run in the third inning off of Keys starter Brian Gonzalez. Jecksson Flores hit a double to right field, and came in to score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Anderson Miller. Although he only surrendered one run, the Keys lefty lasted just 3.1 innings, giving up five hits while walking two and striking out six.

 

Zeke McGranahan (1-0) earned his first Carolina League win after tossing 2.2 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit and struck out three. He came in with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, but got out of the jam after inducing a lineout double play.

Blewett (2-4) took the loss after allowing a career-high eight runs on 10 hits. He walked just one, and struck out eight. Luis Gonzalez picked up his fourth save of the year, pitching three innings of scoreless baseball. He surrendered one hit and struck out three.

Joseph Fitzhenry

 

Aderlin Rodriguez’s solo blast in the bottom of the sixth broke a 1-1 tie and powered the Bowie Baysox (22-20) to a 4-3 win over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (21-15) on Saturday night at Prince George’s Stadium in Bowie.

 

The home run was Rodriguez’s seventh of the season and his first of the year at home.

 

RHP Lucas Long (4.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, 8 K) tossed the final four innings for Bowie and got the win to improve his record to 5-1.

 

The eight strikeouts for Long set a new season-high and his most since he fanned eight on September 2, 2016 with Frederick (A+).

 

The Rumble Ponies cut the lead to 4-3 in the ninth on Cody Decker’s two-run shot with two outs in the inning, but Long fanned David Thompson to end the game.

 

Binghamton got on the board first with an unearned run in the fourth as L.J. Mazzilli reached on an error charged to Baysox 3B Sean Coyle, advanced to third on a bloop single and scored on Champ Stuart’s RBI fielder’s choice to take a 1-0 lead.

 

Bowie starter Brandon Barker (n/d) allowed the one run (none earned) on seven hits while walking one and fanning six in five innings of work.

 

The Baysox tied the game with a run in the fifth when Sharlon Schoop reached with a two-out single and scored from first on Jay Gonzalez’s RBI double into the left centerfield gap.

 

Rumble Ponies starter Corey Oswalt (3-3) surrendered two runs on five hits to go along with two walks and two strikeouts in 6.0 IP.

 

In the home half of the seventh, Gonzalez got on base with a one-out single, took second on a passed ball and scored on D.J. Stewart’s RBI double to give the Baysox an insurance run and make it a 3-1 game. Stewart scored later in the frame on Garabez Rosa’s RBI single to extend the Bowie lead to 4-1. Both runs were charged to Binghamton RHP Cory Burns (1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, K).

 

Gonzalez (2-4, 2B, RBI, R), Rosa (2-4, 2B, RBI) and Schoop (2-4, R) all had multi-hit games for manager Gary Kendall’s squad.

John Stanley

 

The bats were active Saturday night, as both the Charlotte Knights and Norfolk Tides combined to score 15 runs and 20 hits. Pedro Alvarez knocked in the game-winning run in a 8-7 win Saturday night at Harbor Park.

The Tides were first to strike a run on the board after Michael Bourn led off with a single in the 1^stinning. With one out and during Álvarez's at bat, Bourn stole 2^nd and advanced to third on a throwing error by Charlotte catcher Carson Blair. Álvarez then grounded out to second base to score Bourn.

In the top of the second, the Knights responded with a long two-run home run by Cody Asche to right field that scored Ryan Raburn from first. The Knights led 2-1 after two innings.

In the top of the third inning, Jose Vinicio led off with a double down the right field line. He then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Jacob May after Álvarez dropped the throw from Richard Rodriguez. Later in the inning, Danny Hayes knocked an RBI single to score May, making it 4-1 Charlotte.

Norfolk answered right back in the bottom of the inning. Bourn had his 2^nd hit on a triple with one out. Johnny Giavotella then knocked him in on a groundout to second, cutting the Knights lead to 4-2.

In the top of the fourth, Knights continued their offensive success. After walking Asche and hitting Adam Engel with a pitch, Rodriguez struck out Blair and was then replaced by recent Tides addition Donnie Hart. Hart couldn't stop the bleeding as he allowed an RBI single to Vinicio that scored Asche, followed by a groundout to first base that scored Engel. Knights led 6-2.

Norfolk answered by scoring two runs for their second straight inning in the bottom of the fourth. With two down, Craig Gentry hit a double to put himself in scoring position. Drew Dosch followed with a bloop single in-between Charlotte's shortstop and centerfield that scored Gentry. Dosch advanced to second after Everth Cabrera had trouble getting the ball back in to the infield. Henry Urrutia, who was inserted into the lineup late today to replace Paul Janish, drove a single down the left field line to score Dosch, the Tides were then down 6-4.

An inning later, the Tides struck again. Giavotella hit a long fly ball that kept carrying and ended up hitting high off the wall in right field next to the foul pole, resulting in a triple for him. Álvarez then hit a hard single to where the shortstop would normally be, however, he was facing an extreme shift to the right side of the field and ended up with his second RBI of the night. Tides cut the lead to one, 6-5 Knights.

Fast-forwarding to the top of the seventh, the Tides were in trouble after Jimmy Yacabonis walked the bases loaded to start the inning. Raburn grounded into a fielder's choice where Cabrera was able to score. Yacabonis was able to escape further damage and retired the remaining batters. Charlotte leads 7-5.

In the bottom of the eighth, Álvarez wasn't ready to quit as he lifted a first-pitch fastball off of Giovanni Soto over the right field bullpen for his 6^th HR of the season and his second in the series. After eight innings, the Tides trailed 7-6.

Charlotte's Matt Purke came on to close out the game for the Knights in the ninth. After striking out Dosch, Urrutia walked and was replaced by Mike Yastrzemski as a pinch runner. Logan Schafer then reach first on a bunt single in-between first and second base. Bourn popped up to third base for the second out, leaving Giavotella as the potential final out. On a 2-2 count, he smack a line drive up the middle to score Yastrzemski and tie the game at 7. On the play, the throw from Engel to the plate went by Blair, advancing Schafer to third base and Giavotella to second. On the very next pitch, Álvarez played the hero and smacked his third hit of the night up the middle to score the game-winning run, his fourth RBI of the game.