Offense explodes for Simms in Potomac series sweep of Carolina

The Potomac (18-22-Overall, 10-10-Home) offense exploded in the series finale, defeating the Carolina Mudcats (19-18-Overall, 6-10-Road) 11-1 to earn their first series sweep of 2015 while banging out 11 hits in support of RHP John Simms, who earned his first win of the campaign.

Simms (1-4, 4.44) pitched a season high 6.2 innings allowing four hits and one run, it came in the top of the fourth inning off the bat of CF Sean Godfrey, his third home run of the game.

The start for Simms marked the ninth straight time Potomac has had their starting pitcher go at least 6.0 innings and the P-Nats are 5-4 over that span.

Potomac jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first against Carolina’s starter Yean Carlos Gil (0-7, 6.10) when SS Stephen Perezsingled. CF Isaac Ballou followed with his first triple of the season, knocking in Perez for the 1-0 P-Nats lead.

It remained 1-0 until the bottom of the third when Perez again started off a rally with a single. Ballou followed with an infield single to put runners on first and second and nobody out. Gil fired the first of three costly wild pitches in the game moving both Perez and Ballou up 90 feet and 3B Drew Ward, who hadn’t picked up an RBI in his last 10 games, hit his first triple of the year, knocking in Perez and Ballou for a 3-0 Potomac lead. 1B John Wooten followed with an RBI single past the pulled in SS Johan Camargo for a 4-0 lead.

For Potomac they had not scored three runs in an inning since May 3^rd in Salem in an eventual 10-6 loss to the Red Sox.

One inning later, after the Godfrey solo home run made it 4-1 Potomac, the Red, White and Blue exploded for seven runs to roll to an 11-1 lead. It all started against Gil with a RF Narciso Mesa single, who extended his on-base streak to six games. 2B Christopher Bostickfollowed with a single and Gil’s second wild pitch moved them both up a bag. Perez then walked to load the bases pushing Mesa to third and Bostick to second. Ballou hit a ball to 2B Reed Harper that he made a diving attempt on. The ball grazed his glove and then trickled into right field for a two-run single for Ballou and a 6-1 P-Nats lead after Mesa and Bostick both scored. Perez moved to third and Ballou up to second on the throw to the plate. With C Spencer Kieboom up, Gil delivered his third wild pitch and it brought home Perez for a 7-1 lead. Kieboom then walked to put runners on the corners and Ward was hit by a pitch to reload the bases. At this point Luis Salazar went to his bullpen and brought in RHP Justin Jackson to relive Gil.

For Gil, the starter for Carolina, it was not pretty.  He pitched only 3.0+ innings and allowed 10 runs on 10 hits, he walked three and he struck out two while also throwing three costly wild pitches.

Wooten was the first batter Jackson faced and he slapped a ground ball to the second baseman Harper for an RBI groundout and an 8-1 Nationals lead. DH Brandon Miller picked up his thirteenth RBI of the season with a single pushing the advantage to 9-1 and extending his hitting streak to six while once again the Nats had runners on the corners. LF Estarlin Martinez then walked to once again reload the bases and Mesa, who was coming to the plate for the second time in the bottom of the fourth, hit a fielder’s choice ball where Ward was put out at the plate for the second out of the inning. The bases remained loaded until Jackson threw the third wild pitch of the inning for Carolina and Miller came home to score for a 10-1 lead. Bostick walked to load the bases for the fourth time in the frame and Perez walked to push home the final run of the inning and make it 11-1 Potomac.

Simms picked up his first win of the season after starting the year 0-4 and also hurled his third straight quality start as Potomac picked up their first series sweep in 2015. Carolina has now lost six in a row and have now been swept in back-to-back series by the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and now the Potomac Nationals.

RHP Justin Thomas came in with two outs in the seventh and pitched the rest of the way allowing one hit in his 2.2 scoreless innings and striking out one.

For Carolina, Jackson pitched 2.2 innings and allowed one run on one hit while walking four and striking out one. Following Jackson out of the bullpen was RHP Britt Robertshaw, who logged 1.1 scoreless innings and striking out one. RHP Mauricio Cabrera pitched the final inning walking three and picking up a strikeout while stranding the bases loaded in the eighth.

The 11 runs for Potomac marks the third time they have gone into double digits in the run column and the most runs they have scored since back-to-back double digit run games on April 17^th and April 18^th in Lynchburg.

Potomac now heads to Myrtle Beach to face the first place Pelicans for the first time in 2015 for a four game series that will begin at TicketReturn.com Field at 6:05 pm on Friday evening.

Potomac will send RHP Reynaldo Lopez (2-0, 0.53) to the mound in Game One against RHP Duane Underwood Jr. (4-0, 1.09).

The Potomac Nationals Baseball Network will have live coverage of the game starting at 5:50 pm beginning with The P-Nats Lead-Off Show.