P-Nats prevail in extras
The Potomac Nationals and Kinston Indians decided to spend some extra time at Grainger Stadium on Monday night. Thunderstorms delayed the start of the ballgame by nearly 90 minutes, and the clubs needed 11 innings to decide a back-and-forth affair that saw the P-Nats surrender the lead in the ninth, score three in the 11th, walk the bases full of Indians in the bottom half but escape with a 5-2 win on Rob Wort’s strikeout of Casey Frawley. The win snapped a three-game slide for Potomac, and ended a six-game Kinston winning streak.
After Potomac manufactured the go-ahead run in the eighth, they were two outs from a 2-1 victory in the bottom of the ninth. But Tyler Cannon ripped a double inside the bag to score Adam Abraham, who had singled to open the inning against Hector Nelo. Nelo got the next two outs to send the game to extras.
In the 11th, the Nationals (31-43) used some shaky Kinston (42-32) defense and aggressive base running to score the decisive runs. Cutter Dykstra laid down a bunt to the mound on the inning’s first pitch. But the Tribe’s All Star closer Preston Guilmet yielded to Roberto Perez on a ball well out past home plate. Perez’s throw was not in time at first and Dykstra was aboard with an infield hit. Eury Perez then hit a high chopper to first; rather than step on the bag to get the speedy Perez, first baseman Jeremie Tice flipped late to Guilmet and the P-Nats had two aboard.
After a failed bunt attempt by Francisco Soriano, Matt LeCroy put on the double steal. The catcher Perez’s throw ricocheted off the glove of Frawley, who was covering from short on the wheel play. Dykstra scored and Perez moved to third. LeCroy then dialed up he safety squeeze, and J.R. Higley’s bunt on the first base side made it 4-2 Nats.
With two outs, Justin Bloxom singled to right to score Soriano and give the Nationals a three-run edge. In the bottom of the inning, the insurance runs proved critical.
Joe Testa led off the inning with a walk to Abner Abreu. After he struck out Cannon, he walked Perez and was lifted from the game. Wort fanned Doug Pickens to get the second out before he, too, walked Tyler Holt. But he punched out Frawley to secure the Nationals’ second win in nine games with the Indians.
Danny Rosenbaum was solid for six innings for Potomac. He allowed only one earned run on three Kinston hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Clayton Cook matched wits with the lefthander; he too tossed six one-run innings with four punchouts.
The clubs decide the series on Tuesday evening at 6:30 P.M. Adam Olbrychowski takes the ball for the Nationals. The broadcast can be heard beginning at 6:00.
Defensive miscues cost P-Nats
Three errors doomed the Potomac Nationals on Sunday in Kinston, contributing to three unearned runs in a 5-4 series-opening victory for the Indians. With the loss – in which the Nationals committed multiple errors for the 11th time in their last 18 games – Potomac has dropped three straight games, while the Indians notched their sixth consecutive win. The P-Nats have now lost seven of the first eight games with the Indians in 2011.
The Nationals (30-43) surged out in front with a helping hand from the Indians’ defense in the second inning. After K-Tribe (42-31) starter T.J. House walked Steven Souza to open the inning (he would walk four batters for the third time in four starts), House retired J.P. Ramirez and then hit Sandy Leon. After Souza stole third, J.R. Higley hit a bouncing ball to third that scooted under the glove of Adam Abraham and all the way into the left field corner, scoring Souza and putting runners at second and third. Justino Cuevas then roped a double to deep left field that put Potomac ahead 3-0.
The lead was short-lived. Cameron Selik never looked comfortable on Sunday afternoon, and gave three runs back in the Kinston second. After Abner Abreu led off the frame with a single, Chase Burnette hit a chopper to second base. Jeff Kobernus ranged to his left to glove it, but his throw drew Cuevas off the second base bag. The throwing error would bite the Nats: after Tyler Cannon flied to right, Doug Pickens singled to left field to score Abreu. After a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, Delvi Cid singled to pull the Tribe within one. Casey Frawley’s sacrifice fly scored a third, unearned run to tie the game at three.
Potomac took back the lead in the fourth when J.R. Higley homered to deep left field.
Casey Frawley hit a blooper to shallow center field to open the fifth. Jeff Kobernus raced back on it but the ball kicked off his glove. After Anthony Gallas flied out to right, Adam Abraham hit what appeared to be a double play ball to short. The ball skipped through the legs of Cuevas and put runners at first and second. Abreu then tripled to right to plate two runs and give the Tribe a lead they would never relinquish.
Kyle Landis and Rob Bryson kept the Nationals’ offense at bay for four and two thirds innings of relief; Potomac mustered just two hits off the relievers.
The Nationals look to snap their three-game slide on Monday in Kinston with Danny Rosenbaum on the mound against Clayton Cook at 6:30 P.M.
P-Nats drop finale in Myrtle Beach
Four unearned runs in the first inning set the tone for a disheartening 11-3 loss in Myrtle Beach on Saturday night that gave the Pelicans a victory in the first series of the second half. The Pelicans rode 18 hits, a strong outing from Barret Loux and a trio of big innings to victory in the rubber match with the Potomac Nationals.
The Nationals (30-42) made their biggest noise of the evening before the first pitch was even thrown: manager Matt LeCroy was ejected before the game after a prolonged argument with home plate umpire John Bacon as the lineup cards were exchanged. Bacon had gifted the Pelicans (42-30) a victory in the 14th inning on Friday night by ruling that Eury Perez did not make a game-saving catch in the left-center field gap, even though replays proved Perez clearly did. The P-Nats applauded their skipper from the dugout, but the first inning appeared to take the wind from their sails.
After a leadoff single by Larry Garcia off starter Paul Demny and a walk to Jared Prince, Demny got Ryan Strausborger to fly out to right field for the inning’s first out. He then induced a ground ball to first off the bat of Chris McGuinness. Steven Souza fielded the three-hopper but fired the throw into left field, allowing Garcia to score. After Vinny DiFazio popped out, the Pelicans rattled off three consecutive two-out hits and plated three more unearned runs.
With the way Barret Loux pitched, the 4-0 lead would prove enough for the Pelicans. The righthander allowed two runs over six strong innings with six strikeouts and just one walk, earning his seventh victory of the season – and third over the P-Nats.
His only trouble came in the Potomac fifth. A leadoff walk to Justino Cuevas was cashed in when Jeff Kobernus roped a two-out single to right. Destin Hood then hit a line drive toward the gap in left field. Racing to cut it off, Pelicans centerfielder Ryan Strausborger kicked the ball into the left field corner, allowing Kobernus to score from first. Hood was credited with triple and an RBI, and the P-Nats were back in it at 6-2.
They tacked on another run in the seventh. Kobernus launched a deep home run to left field off Trevor Hurley that pulled Potomac within three. Evan Bronson relieved Demny and breezed through the seventh, retiring the Pelicans with just five pitches. The eighth was not nearly as smooth.
The first five batters reached base in the Myrtle eighth: three singles, a walk and a hit batter plated a pair of runs and kept the bases loaded before DiFazio finally flied out for the first out. After Potomac gunned down Prince at the plate for the second out, three more hits put the game out of reach and put Myrtle Beach ahead 11-3.
Ryan Kelly pitched a perfect ninth to wrap up the win for Myrtle Beach, who inched ahead in the season series with Potomac with their seventh win in 13 contests with the P-Nats.
Potomac opens a three-game series in Kinston Sunday afternoon at 4:30 P.M. Righthander Cameron Selik takes the mound for Potomac in the stadium where he made his Carolina League debut. The broadcast can be heard online at www.potomacnationals.com beginning at 4:05.
Blown call costs P-Nats
In the bottom of the 13th inning of a seesaw affair in Myrtle Beach, Eury Perez made a sensational diving catch in the left center field gap that appeared to send the game to another inning. But field umpire John Bacon ruled that Perez did not catch the ball, and in a wave of confusion, Leury Garcia sprinted home for the winning run. In-house replays later showed that Perez clearly caught the ball. The Nationals argued passionately on the field, Bacon conferred with home-plate umpire Asa Gaddy, but the call stood and the Pelicans were handed a 5-4 win.
The controversy overshadowed a wildly entertaining game that saw multiple lead changes, bizarre plays and missed opportunities. Rob Wort worked out of a self-created, bases-loaded jam in the tenth but surrendered the lead on a two-out single by Jared Bolden in the 11th. In the twelfth, Steven Souza appeared to give the Nats another lead, but his line drive headed for left field hit Jeff Kobernus, the runner at second, to end the inning.
Myrtle (41-30) took the early lead for the second straight night. In the first inning, back-to-back singles off Trevor Holder were cashed in by Chris McGuiness’s RBI ground ball. The Pelicans doubled their lead in the fourth: a leadoff double by Zach Zaneski became a run when Jared Hoying tripled to left and it was 2-0.
Potomac (30-41) tied the game in the fifth. Three straight hits keyed the rally, the first of which was a double by Souza. The first baseman had four hits on the night and scored the first Potomac run when Sandy Leon singled. J.P. Ramirez, who had reached on a ground-ball single to left, scored on J.R. Higley’s groundout.
The Nats surged ahead in the sixth inning. After consecutive one-out singles, Leon, again roped a base hit to center than scored Justin Bloxom and gave Potomac a 3-2 lead.
Bloxom’s glove helped Myrtle tie it in their half of the sixth. A leadoff error put Ryan Strausborger aboard and he scored on Mitch Hilligoss’s double to left off Josh Smoker, who had relieved Holder.
It would stay that way until the eleventh, which featured more clutch hitting from Higley and more controversy involving the umpires. After Souza led off with his third hit, Ramirez squared to bunt. Pelicans pitcher Joseph Ortiz tried to throw to second but zipped the ball into center field, and both runners were safe. Leon then laid down a bunt to third. Myrtle Beach put the wheel play on: Hilligoss charged, threw to a covering Garcia at third, who then tossed across to get Leon at first for a double play. Nats’ manager Matt LeCroy argued the call at third and was ejected from the game. On a 1-2 pitch with Ramirez at second, Higley delivered a hit to left that put Potomac ahead.
The two clubs will play the rubber match Saturday evening at 7:05 P.M. The broadcast can be heard beginning at 6:40.
P-Nats open second half with win
In a driving rainstorm that had settled in over BB&T Coastal Field, Hector Nelo struck out Jared Hoying to strand the winning runs on base and lock up a 6-5 P-Nats win in Myrtle Beach. In a game that was delayed 40 minutes because of heavy rains, the Nationals had one big inning and held on for a waterlogged win to open the second half of the Carolina League schedule.
In between the downpours, the Nationals (30-40, 1-0) had their biggest inning of the year. Six consecutive hits to open the third spurred a six-run outburst, the Nats’ biggest production in a single inning all season long.
Sandy Leon opened the frame with a double off Wilfredo Boscan, the Pelicans starter. J.R. Higley then singled; both scored when Cutter Dykstra hit a single to left field. Eury Perez doubled to score Dykstra and scored when Jose Lozada singled to right; Lozada moved to third on Jeff Kobernus’s double. With one out and an 0-2 count, Steven Souza roped a two-run single into center field to make it 6-1.
Myrtle Beach (40-30, 0-1) had taken the lead in the second – and it could have been larger were it not for Higley’s arm. After a one-out Jared Hoying double scored Vinny Difazio, Santiago Chirino singled to right field with two outs. Hoying tried to score from second and was gunned down by a perfect Higley throw to end the inning.
Adam Olbrychowski was solid over five innings; he allowed three runs on six hits and struck out a season-high seven. He did walk two and threw two wild pitches, but earned his second win of the season.
The Pelicans kept chipping away at the Nationals’ lead against a trio of bullpen arms, while the Myrtle ‘pen stymied the Potomac offense.
In the sixth, Souza’s throwing error allowed DiFazio to score and trim the lead to two, at 6-4. Joe Testa hit the first batter in both the seventh and eight innings, but worked around both. In the eight, he had a hand from Hector Nelo, who came on with one out and got a strikeout and groundout to end the threat.
As the eighth turned to the ninth innings, the rain really picked up. By the time Nelo took the mound for the last half inning, a downpour had caused the grounds crew to dump drying materials on the mound and area around home plate.
Through the driving rain, Nelo walked the leadoff man Leury Garcia. He then struck out Jared Prince, but Garcia, who had stolen second and third bases, scored on Chris McGuinness’s one-out single. Mitch Hilligoss then blooped a ball over the head of Justin Bloxom at third to put the winning run on base. Nelo then struck out DiFazio, at which point the grounds crew was again summoned to tend to the mound. After a furious dumping of dirt and drying agent, Nelo was allowed to continue. On his fifth pitch, he struck out Hoying to end the ballgame.
P-Nats win walkoff
Justin Bloxom’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th propelled Potomac to a 5-4 win over Myrtle Beach on Wednesday afternoon at Pfitzner Stadium.
The P-Nats third baseman led off the 10th inning against Pelicans reliever Trevor Hurley. The righty entered the game in the bottom of the 8th and had not allowed a hit to the first seven batters he faced. The only hitter to reach was Brian Peacock, who made it to first on a walk. But Bloxom, a switch-hitter batting from the left side, turned on a pitched and sailed it down the right field line. The ball soared high over the foul pole and Guss Curtis, the umpire, signaled “fair,” giving Potomac the walk-off win. Read more
P-Nats split two with Pelicans
The Potomac Nationals and Myrtle Beach Pelicans traded outstanding starts and split a doubleheader Monday night in Woodbridge. The Nationals took Game One 5-1 behind Cameron Selik’s complete game but dropped the nightcap 2-0 in an overpowering effort by Barret Loux. With the win in the finale, Myrtle Beach cut its magic number to three in the race for the Carolina League’s Southern Division first-half crown. Read more
