The Potomac Nationals (18-23 Overall, 8-13 Road) snapped a three-game winning streak on the Grand Strand Friday evening on TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark losing the series opener of the best-of-four Memorial Day Weekend set opener to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (25-14 Overall, 9-9 Home) by the final score of 8-4.
Potomac is now a (5-9) club against teams from the Carolina League’s Southern Division.
Nationals RHP Reynaldo Lopez (2-1) suffered the roughest start of his Potomac Nationals’ career and the phenom took his first losing decision of the 2015 season.
Lopez, amid his fourth Carolina League start, pitched just 2.2 innings and surrendered five earned runs on five base hits including just one extra-base knock while walking one batter, striking out just two men, and unleashing one wild pitch.
The Nationals got to Myrtle Beach RHP Duane Underwood, Jr. (5-0) the eventual winning pitcher, in Act One using solo home runs from RF Brandon Miller and 2B Christopher Bostick in the 2nd and 3rd innings, respectively. Miller’s geyser to the last row of the grandstands in left field was his team-best fifth longball of the 2015 season, and for Bostick it was his first dinger this year which was sent over everything in left field out of the Home of the Pelicans.
Bostick, in his return to Pelicans Ballpark after serving as the Myrtle Beach second baseman last year for the 2014 Southern Division Champions before being traded this off-season to the Nationals in a package for former P-Nats LHP Ross Detwiler, went 2-for-5 with one run scored and one run batted in on the four-bagger.
Underwood, Jr. went on to hurl 6.0 innings in which the power big-bodied righty allowed just two earned runs on two homers and six total hits. Underwood, Jr. walked two P-Nats and fanned four batters en route to staying undefeated with his fifth win to no losses in the circuit.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Pelicans brought nine men to the plate against Lopez and used a two-run double by LF Pin-Chieh Chen down the left field line, a two-run single off the stick of 1B Jacob Rogers punched up the third base chalk that traveled into the left field corner, and a run-scoring two-bagger into the right field corner from RF Kevin Brown to plate five runs and hand Myrtle Beach a 5-2 lead.
The birds tacked on another run to garner a 6-2 advantage in the 4th when Myrtle Beach CF Mark Zagunis, the leading hitter in the Carolina League by batting average (.328), lifted an RBI sacrifice fly to center field off Potomac RHP Kevin Perez to score the leadoff double of 2B Daniel Lockhart.
Perez dealt 3.1 frames in relief of Lopez, served up just that one earned run on three hits and two walks, and struck out a duo.
Both clubs threw up a two-run spot on the scoreboard in their halves of the 8th stanza. For the Nationals off RHP Juan Paniagua, LF Isaac Balloublasted a solo home run over the right field barrier, his third deep fly before 1B John Wooten dashed a triple into the left-center field gap setting up a one-out RBI single gunned into center field by 3B Khayyan Norfork to cut the Pelicans’ edge to 6-4.
Paniagua had not allowed an earned run in 2015 in 11.1 innings before this relief appearance.
This was the first three home run game of the 2015 journey for the red, white, and blue.
Myrtle Beach wasted no time equalizing the two runs they allowed with two runs of their own via back-to-back RBI singles from CF Trey Martin and Zagunis off Nationals RHP Cody Davis.
Davis went 2.0 innings, allowed those two earned runs on three hits, walked one, and fanned a pair matching his toughest bullpen trip of the year.
Pelicans RHP Jasvir Rakkar (6 SV) earned his sixth save in seven save chances with 1.2 scoreless frames in which the crafty reliever allowed one hit, a single to SS Stephen Perez in the 9th. Rakkar entered the game with runners at first and second base in the 8th and Myrtle Beach up two runs before inducing C Craig Manuel into a popup to shallow right-center field and retiring CF Narciso Mesa on a 3-1 groundout. Rakkar sidestepped the Perez single in the final inning by getting Bostick to fly out to left field before Ballou reached on a fielder’s choice groundball cutting down Perez at second base. Then, Wooten scorched a line drive at Pelicans SS Carlos Penalver who squeezed the hot shot to seal the victory for the home club, the Pelicans’ 25th win this season.
Tomorrow night in series Game Two Potomac sends RHP Tyler Mapes (0-0, 3.75) to the hill in a spot start to duel with Myrtle Beach RHP Paul Blackburn (2-2, 5.00) with first pitch slated for 6:05pm.
The Potomac Nationals Baseball Network will carry live coverage of the game beginning with the “P-Nats Lead-Off Show” at 5:50pm before the live play-by-play at 6:05pm. P-Nats Gameday Audio on the Potomac Nationals Baseball Network is accessible at www.potomacnationals.com or with the TuneIn Radio App.
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