In a back and forth affair, the Potomac Nationals (55-63-Overall, 30-29-Home, 22-26-Second Half) fell to the Wilmington Blue Rocks (54-64-Overall, 21-41-Road, 16-32-Second Half) 13-10 in Game Two of the three game series, setting up the rubber match tonight at Pfitzner Stadium.
LHP Matthew Spann made the start, looking for his second win in the Carolina League this season. Spann threw 98 pitches in his 5.1 innings pitched, allowing six runs (all earned) on eight hits, walking two and he recorded five strikeouts.
SS Jack Lopez began the game for Wilmington with a solo home run, his sixth of the year, and it gave the Blue Rocks a 1-0 lead.
Potomac answered with three runs in the bottom of the first against RHP Alec Mills of the Blue Rocks. CF Rafael Bautista led things off with a single and swiped second base. 1B Grant DeBruin tied the game with an RBI double that scored Bautista. RF Brenden Webb, the newest member of the Nationals, followed with an RBI double to give Potomac a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, 2B Khayyan Norfork whacked an RBI single to push the advantage to 3-1 Potomac.
Wilmington got closer in the third with a run against Spann when CF Logan Moon singled. Lopez dropped a sacrifice bunt down and 3B Mauricio Ramos brought him home with an RBI single to make it 3-2.
The yo-yo affair continued with Potomac getting a run back in the bottom of the third. DeBruin led it off with a single and the Webb doubled him to third. That was end of the night for Mills, he pitched two-plus innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (all earned), walking a batter and striking out two. LF Alec Keller was the first man to face LHP Luis Rico (6-8, 4.29), who earned the win in relief, out of the bullpen and he singled home DeBruin for a 4-2 lead.
Wilmington scored again in the fourth when Moon singled home LF Alfredo Escalera to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
The Grant DeBruin show continued in the bottom of the fourth when he laced a two-run triple, scoring Bautista and the big leaguer DH Reed Johnson for a 6-3 lead.
In the top of the fifth against Spann, Wilmington made it a one-run ballgame when 1B Ryan O’Hearn left the building with a two-run homer that made it 6-5.
Potomac was forced to use three pitchers in the sixth, an inning that saw Wilmington score seven runs against RHP Jake Johansen (1-5, 5.49), who was saddled with the loss, and take a lead they wouldn’t give up. The big blow in the seven run frame was a three run home run by O’Hearn, who drove in six in the win for the Rocks. His second home run of the game was his fourth of the season and it made it 12-6 Wilmington.
The Blue Rocks added a run in the top of the seventh when Lopez led-off the frame with a single and O’Hearn then struck again with an RBI single for a 13-6 lead.
The Nationals made it a game with four runs in the seventh after RHP Evan Beal walked the bases loaded and C Craig Manuel cleared the bags with a three run double and eventually scored on an error charged to the shortstop Lopez. 13-10 was the closest the Nationals would get in the game, falling in Game Two to set up the rubber match tomorrow night.
RHP Andrew Edwards (SV 2) earned his second save of the season closing out the win for Wilmington.
Game Three features RHP Brian Rauh (2-1, 2.21) for Potomac against RHP Zach Lovvorn (2-3, 4.02) for the Blue Rocks.
You can listen live at www.potomacnationals.com or via the TuneIn Radio App starting at 5:50 pm with the “P-Nats Lead-Off Show.”
Tonight features a Ryan Zimmerman bobble head giveaway to the first 2,000 fans in the ballpark provided by Dave Stinson’s Geico office and Family Fun Day provided by NBC4-Washington with Kids running the bases courtesy of Glory Days as well Arts in the Park Day, Pirate and Princess Night and a postgame fireworks show courtesy of WTOP.
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Chris Graham
