Sunday night baseball in the Tar Heel State at BB&T Ballpark featured an 8-2 victory for the Potomac Nationals (44-43 Overall) over the Winston-Salem Dash (40-47 Overall, 21-23 Home, 10-7 Second-Half) in series Game Three as the Red, White, and Blue pulled ahead for good with a four-run 7th inning to break up a 1-1 tie.
Potomac’s 44th triumph in 2015 catalyzed an overall winning record in 2015 for the visiting club.
Nationals starter, RHP Reynaldo Lopez (5-5) now owns a .500 win/loss record after garnering his fifth win this season.
Lopez submitted his sixth quality start of the season in outing number 13 with 6.0 innings on the mound in which the phenom allowed just one earned run on five hits but no walks. The power righty fanned seven Dash hitters.
Light rain delayed the contest from a scheduled 5:00pm start to 6:07pm (one hour, six minute rain delay).
The P-Nats plated the first run of the game off the losing pitcher of record, Dash RHP Brandon Brennan (0-3) in the 2nd inning. Potomac 2B Khayyan Norfork chopped an RBI single into center field to deliver the leadoff walk issued to C Spencer Kieboom.
Winston-Salem tied the game at 1-1 in the 6th frame with an RBI double ripped inside the first base bag that traveled into the right field corner off the stick of 3B Trey Michalczewski.
Potomac then turned in a four-run 7th stanza vs. Brennan and Winston-Salem RHP Brad Goldberg. Brennan served up the go-ahead run on a two-out, run-scoring single filleted into the power alley in left-center field by Nationals LF Alec Kellerbefore Michalczewski committed a throwing error from third base that scored P-Nats 1B Grant DeBruin, who walked. Nationals SS Stephen Perez then nailed a two-run double into left-center on the first pitch he saw from Brennan to chase the Dash starting hurler and propel the P-Nats to a 5-1 lead.
Brennan surrendered five runs (two earned runs) on six hits and three walks in 6.2 innings.
Goldberg’s line was 1.1 frames and one earned run on three hits as Potomac collected three singles from Kieboom, DeBruin, and Norfork in the 8th on offerings from Goldberg which led to an RBI sacrifice fly lofted by Nationals DHJimmy Yezzo.
Two runs for the Nationals in the 9th came against Winston-Salem RHP Michael Ynoa via back-to-back RBI doubles off the lumber of Kieboom into the left field corner and 3B Drew Ward, who one-hopped the left field wall with a swing.
Potomac RHP Brian Dupra (3 SV) earned his third save in as many save opportunities by finishing the game with 3.0 innings under his belt.
Dupra allowed one earned run on just one hit and three walks while fanning one man.
In the last of the 9th, Dupra walked a pair but got Dash 1B Keon Barnum on a 6-3 groundout and C Omar Narvaez on a RBI 4-3 swept baseball. Then, the final out of the game came on a corner-to-corner groundout from LF Toby Thomas.
This Nationals’ victory was the most lopsided win (six-run differential) in their Second-Half play.
In the Game Four series finale on Monday evening, Nationals LHP Matt Purke (0-0, 0.00) will make his 2015 Carolina League debut against Winston-Salem RHP Robinson Leyer (3-6, 4.30).
Purke began the 2015 season with Class-A Hagerstown following Tommy John surgery performed in 2014.
First pitch at “The Bank” will be tossed at 7:00pm.
Potomac goes for their fifth consecutive series victory with a “W” tomorrow night at BB&T Ballpark.
The Potomac Nationals Baseball Network will carry live coverage of the game beginning with the “P-Nats Lead-Off Show” at 6:45pm before the live play-by-play at 7:00pm. 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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