Lynchburg hands Potomac Nationals first loss

Lynchburg capitalized on some early command issues by Luis Reyes to score four runs with only one hit in the first inning. Justus Sheffield looked sharp in his second start of the year with six shutout frames to lead Lynchburg to a 6-3 victory against Potomac Tuesday afternoon at City Stadium.

Lynchburg led wire-to-wire thanks to a four-run first inning that only featured one hit. Claudio Bautista and Mark Mathias each walked to open the game, and Anthony Santander was hit by a pitch to load the bases before the Hillcats even put a ball in play. Bobby Bradley hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Bautista, and a fielding error on the next play allowed another run to cross. Mike Papi smacked an RBI double to right field to make it 3-0, and Taylor Murphy brought home Dorssys Paulinoon a sacrifice fly to push the margin to 4-0.

In his second start at the Advanced-A level, Justus Sheffield only surrendered two hits over two hits while striking out four batters in six scoreless innings. The No. 4 prospect in the Indians system received the win, while Justin Garcia tossed 1 1/3 scoreless frames to earn a hold. Trevor Frank entered with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning of a 6-3 game. He struck out Bryan Mejia and induced a fly ball from Osvaldo Abreu to strand all three inherited runners and preserve the victory.

Lynchburg tallied a run in the fourth after another leadoff walk. Murphy earned the free pass and advanced to second on an infield single by Bautista. With Mark Mathias at the plate, both runners took off on a double steal. The ball deflected off the mitt of Nationals catcher Raudy Read and went to the backstop. Murphy never broke stride and sprinted home to score from second base on the play.

In the sixth inning, Murphy led off the sixth inning with a solo home run to right field to push the score to 6-0. Potomac scored three runs in the seventh to tighten the gap, highlighted by a Raudy Read double.

 Lynchburg has been outhit in each of its last two victories and has had three different innings during that time in which the team notched more runs than hits in the frame.

Lynchburg closes out its opening seven-game homestand with a series finale against Potomac Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. It is a “Winning Wednesday,” which means that fans who attend the contest will receive a free ticket to the next Wednesday home game. Those who can’t make it to ballpark can tune in on 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com for the Hillcats On-Deck Show at 6:15 p.m.