The Potomac Nationals dropped game two of a series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 9-2 in South Carolina. The P-Nats committed three errors, walked nine batters and hit two more in a sloppy performance.
The Pelicans loaded the bases with two outs against P-Nats starter Nathan Karns in the first. Teodoro Martinez singled into left to get the Pelicans on the board with JP Ramirez’s throwing error leading to two more runs to give Myrtle Beach a 3-0 lead.
Myrtle added two more in the second with Hanser Alberto hitting an RBI single. Another run scored when Vinny DiFazio grounded a ball to third base with Anthony Rendon stepping on third then throwing wide of first base narrowly missing a double play. It was 5-0 Pelicans after two innings.
Karns (8-3) was pulled after two innings giving up five runs with just three earned. He struck out three but didn’t help his cause by walking three. It was the first time since his first Carolina League start at Frederick on June 5th he’s yielded more than two runs. Karns took the loss for the first time since June 9th (a stretch of nine starts).
Myrtle Beach starter Luke Jackson took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. But Francisco Soriano hit a lead off double to break it up. The P-Nats got on the board in the sixth with Kevin Keyes knocking a two-out RBI single plating Soriano to cut the lead to 5-1.
Keyes was the last batter Jackson (4-1) faced. He went five and two-thirds innings giving up just two hits and striking out seven.
But the Pelicans responded with two in the bottom half of the sixth against reliever Adam Carr. Back-to-back RBI doubles from DiFazio and Chris Grayson extended the Birds advantage to 7-1.
Potomac scored a run on a Soriano two-out RBI double in the seventh while the Pelicans scored two thanks to two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch in the eighth to give us the final 9-2 final.
The nine walks for Potomac equaled a season high.
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Chris Graham
