The Potomac Nationals (39-46) used a spectacular start from LHP Grant Borne (W, 4-3) to beat the Wilmington Blue Rocks (46-41) on Saturday night at Pfitzner Stadium. The P-Nats starter set a career high with seven strikeouts over seven shutout innings against the Blue Rocks. The Potomac offense smacked 10 hits in the three-run win over Wilmington.
Borne picked up his fourth win of the season after arguably his best start of the season on Saturday. The left-hander punched out a career-high seven hitters in his seventh start of the season. He allowed just one earned run on two hits in the outing. Over 22.1 innings pitched against the Blue Rocks in 2017, Borne has allowed just one total earned run.
Both teams remained scoreless until the fifth inning when Potomac broke open the scoring with two runs against RHP Jared Ruxer (L, 4-3). SS Edwin Lora singled on a two-strike pitch with one out to start the rally and stole second base with RF Rhett Wiseman at the plate. CF Jack Sundberg drove in Lora a batter later on a single to right and advanced to second on the throw to the plate. With a man on second, DH Austin Davidson singled in his first RBI of the night. The P-Nats held a 2-0 lead after five.
Wilmington answered in the top of the sixth with it’s only run of the game. With SS Jecksson Flores on first, 2B D.J. Burt drove a double down the right-field line. Flores flew around the bases to score the only Blue Rocks run against Borne.
Potomac put the game away with runs in the sixth and seventh innings. A 3B David Mastersdouble in the sixth inning increased the lead back to two. Davidson capped off the scoring with his second RBI of the game with a double down the left-field line. With four runs in three consecutive frames, the P-Nats opened up a 4-1 lead over the Blue Rocks after seven innings.
RHP Dakota Bacus (S, 3) handled Wilmington the rest of the way tossing two perfect innings in the eighth and ninth. The right-hander struck out three over the final two frames to lock down his third save of the season. With a scoreless outing, Bacus has now lowered his ERA to 1.84 in eight appearances this season.
Eight of nine Potomac starters recorded a hit in the 10-hit offensive performance. Wiseman broke an 0-20 slump coming into the ball game with his 12th multi-hit game of the season. Davidson was the only other National with a multi-hit performance.
After a split of the first two games of the series, the P-Nats and Blue Rocks face off in the third game of the four-game set on Sunday afternoon. Potomac will look for the advantage in the series with RHP Austen Williams (0-0, 0.00) on the mound. Williams will make his first start for the P-Nats since last season after beginning 2017 with the Harrisburg Senators. All-Star LHP Cristian Castillo (5-4, 2.84) will throw in his 17th start of the season for Wilmington.
Sunday’s first pitch is at 1:05 pm. Potomac coverage begins at 12:50 pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show on the Potomac Nationals Baseball Network. The broadcast can be streamed live on potomacnationals.com or by using the TuneIn Radio or MiLB First Pitch apps.
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