Both home teams came away with victories in the two games on Friday evening at Frawley Stadium. The Potomac Nationals (23-25) won the continuation of the suspended game that began as Pfitzner Stadium with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory. The Wilmington Blue Rocks (24-24) took the regularly scheduled game 4-2 in seven innings.
Potomac scored two out of three runs in the suspended game with two outs and held on for the win. Wilmington scored the final three runs of the game on it’s way to a two-run triumph.
The first game of the day began on Thursday, 5/18 but was suspended with one out in the top of the fourth inning after a lightning storm rolled into Pfitzner Stadium. So, we began the game on Friday with Wilmington leading 1-0 and DH Chase Vallot at the plate with an 0-1 count. The first run of the game was scored off a two-out RBI triple from CF Cody Jones in the top of the second inning.
Neither starting pitcher returned to the mound on Friday evening. LHP Grant Borne (W, 1-1) came in to relieve LHP Hector Silvestre who began the game last Thursday. Silvestre will start on Monday afternoon against the Blue Rocks. Borne was magnificent, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings against Wilmington. He kept the Rocks off-balance all game. He only surrendered one hit and one walk while striking out three.
Potomac scored two out of it’s three runs with two outs. The Red, White & Blue tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning against reliever RHP Andres Machado. DH Edwin Lora reached base with one out in the frame on a fielding error by 2B D.J. Burt. After a steal of second and a SS Bryan Mejia strikeout, RF Rhett Wiseman doubled home Lora to even the score at one.
The second two-out run came across in the bottom of the fifth inning. 2B Austin Davidson singled with one out and stole second with 1B Ian Sagdal at the plate. After a groundout, 3B Kelvin Gutierrez lined a single to center to plate the second Potomac run of the game.
Davidson struck again in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI of his own in the inning. CF Victor Robles doubled with one out to set up Davidson’s 25th run batted in of the season. He slashed a single to left to give Potomac a 3-1 lead.
Wilmington made it interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning and put the tying run on base. 1B Chris DeVito crushed his second home run of the season and Vallot singled with two outs in the final inning. But, RHP Gilberto Mendez (S, 4) buckled down and slammed the door shut with a three-pitch strikeout of 3B Wander Franco to end the game.
The second game was shortened to seven innings since both teams played six innings in the suspended game beforehand. The Blue Rocks jumped out early against RHP Joan Baez (ND) with a run in the first. But, the right-hander settled down to strike out a season-high seven batters in five innings of work in his ninth start of the season.
The P-Nats took the lead in the top of the third inning against RHP Scott Blewett (W, 3-4) scoring two unearned runs against the Blue Rocks starter. Mejia led off the inning with a strikeout on a pitch in the dirt but advanced to first on a throwing error by Vallot. Robles sacrificed Mejia to second and RF Jack Sundberg followed with a game-tying single to center. After a walk to C Taylor Gushue, Blewett threw a wild pitch with Davidson at the plate. Both Sundberg and Gushue advanced. Sundberg scored after Vallot threw to second to try and get Gushue. The ball ended up in center field and the P-Nats had a 2-1 lead.
Potomac held that lead until the bottom of the fifth inning. The Red, White & Blue surrendered three runs combined between the fifth and the sixth. Baez surrendered the lead on an RBI single to ML-Rehab 3B Hunter Dozier. RHP Nolan Sanburn (L, 0-1) faltered in the sixth on his way to his first loss of the season. After a lead off walk to Vallot, the right-handed pitcher allowed four hits in the inning allowing the two game-winning runs to score.
With a win and a loss, the P-Nats remain two games below .500 on the season. Potomac and Wilmington will play three more games over the next three days at Frawley Stadium. On Saturday night, the P-Nats turns to their ace RHP Luis Reyes (3-5, 5.26) against LHP Colin Rodgers (1-2, 3.03) for the Blue Rocks. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm at Frawley Stadium. Our coverage begins at 6:50 pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show on the Potomac Nationals Baseball Network. You can tune in to our broadcast through potomacnationals.com, the TuneIn Radio app or the MiLB First Pitch app.
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