After a rainout in Myrtle Beach on Friday, the Potomac Nationals (12-16, 49-46) returned to action on Saturday night with a 7-3 win over the Salem Red Sox (15-14, 47-50). The P-Nats offense collected 12 hits from seven different players, the sixth straight game with double-digit hits.
RHP Wil Crowe (W, 10-0), who went exactly a month in between Carolina League starts before returning on July 13th, earned the win, his league-leading 10th of the season. Crowe went five innings in the victory, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out three.
Salem struck first in the series opener, but Potomac’s offense got right to work off of Salem starter Kevin McAvoy (L, 0-1).
CF Jack Sundburg led off the third inning against McAvoy with a walk, advanced to second on a single from LF Telmito Agustin, and stole third with no one out. With two runners in scoring position, 2B Bryan Mejia grounded out to second, scoring Sundberg and tying the game.
Potomac took the lead for good in the top of the fourth. With one out, six consecutive P-Nats reached base safely. RF Rhett Wiseman drove in C Tres Barrera and 1B Aldrem Corredor with an RBI double and Sundberg followed with an RBI single, giving The Red, White, & Blue a 4-1 lead.
The Red Sox cut the lead to one with a two-run home run from C Roldani Baldwin (7) in the bottom of the fourth, but that is as close as Salem would get.
A second consecutive three-run inning, this time against RHP Algenis Martinez, gave Potomac a 7-3 lead after four and a half innings of play. Barrera connected on a one-out single, advanced to second on a balk, and scored on a single from Corredor. Two batters later, Sundberg drove an RBI double over the head of CF Chris Madera, and Agustin capped off the scoring with an RBI single.
Agustin returned to Potomac’s lineup for the first time in a month with three-hit night. Corredor picked up two more hits, his 12th multi-hit game as a P-Nat.
Potomac’s bullpen locked down the final four innings of play, preserving the 7-3 win. RHP Matthew DeRosier made his third bullpen appearance of the year for The P-Nats, tossing two scoreless frames. After RHP Jorge Pantoja worked a scoreless eighth, LHP Taylor Guilbeau retired the final three outs without allowing a run in the ninth.
Riding a four-game winning streak, the P-Nats look to clinch a series victory against the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon. LHP Ben Braymer (4-3, 3.53) takes the ball for Potomac. Braymer has five quality starts in his six starts as a P-Nat this season. Salem will send RHP Jake Thompson (4-8, 4.56) to the mound. Thompson is making his 19th start of the season, tied for the most in the Carolina League.
First pitch at Haley Toyota Field on Sunday is set for 4:05pm. The Potomac broadcast will get underway at 3:50pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show. You can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com, at http://bit.ly/P-NatsBroadcast, or on the TuneIn Radio App.
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