With two outs and Sandy Leon at second base in the top of the 11th inning on Tuesday night in Kinston, Francisco hit a harmless popup behind the pitchers’ mound. The Indians’ entire infield converged on the ball but let it fall to the grass, allowing Leon to score the eventual winning run in a Nationals 6-3 win at Grainger Stadium. It wwas just their third win in nine tries at the venerable ballpark. The good fortune helped erase what would have been another discouraging defeat at the home of the Indians, in which the P-Nats will play their final game ever on Wednesday night.
Potomac was two outs from victory in the ninth. With a 3-1 lead, Hector Nelo allowed consecutive singles to Tyler Cannon and Casey Frawley. Jeremie Tice then pinch hit for Justin Toole and delivered with a single to left field that pulled the Indians within a run. With runners at second and third and one out, Roberto Perez hit a ball to shortstop. It scored Frawley, but Zach Walters threw out Tice at third for the second out. Nelo got Argenis Martinez to ground out to send the game to extra innings.
The Nationals, who entered the game one for their previous 30 with runners in scoring position, broke through with four hits in clutch spots. Only two of them were conventional. Eury Perez got the Nats on the board with a two-out single in the fifth, after Jose Lozada doubled. Francisco Soriano then reached on an error by Clayton Cook to put runners at the corners. Jeff Kobernus then laid down the first of his two RBI safety squeeze bunts to make it 2-0 Potomac.
A pair of walks by Nats starter Erik Davis proved costly and led to the only damage done against him. Jordan Casas scored Perez to pull the Tribe within a run.
Kobernus’s second safety squeeze in the seventh scored Eury Perez and made it 3-1 Nats.
After Soriano’s popup fell safely in the 11th, Kobernus continued the Nationals’ good fortune. He hit a blooper just inside the right field line off the glove of Martinez that scored Soriano. Destin Hood then hit a double to the wall in left to score Kobernus and push Potomac ahead 6-3.
Josh Smoker pitched a pair of scoreless innings to earn his fifth win and level the three-game series. The clubs play the rubber match Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. Evan Bronson takes the mound for Potomac.
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Chris Graham
