Myrtle Beach, the Low-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, scored in the top of the first inning, for the second time in three games. A Cristian Hernandez single and Jefferson Rojas double put two in scoring position for the Pelicans.
Andy Garriola then grounded out to second base, but it was enough to plate Hernandez with the first run of the game.
From there, FredNats starter Erik Tolman settled into a nice groove. He wound up working four innings while allowing just the one run, and retired nine straight Pelicans at one point. Unfortunately for the FredNats, Luis Rujano matched Tolman with four shutout innings of his own to hold the game at 1-0.
Then in the top of the fifth, the game unraveled for Fredericksburg, the Low-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Kevin Rodriguez retired the first two batters he saw, before giving up a single and stolen base to Pedro Ramirez. He came in to score on a double by Ismael Mena to make it 2-0 Myrtle Beach.
After two straight walks loaded the bases, Rodriguez got ahead of Jefferson Rojas with two strikes. But Rojas hammered that 0-2 pitch for a grand slam, putting the Pelicans in front 6-0, which quickly became 7-0 when Garriola crushed a home run the very next at-bat.
Myrtle Beach kept the hits coming in the sixth inning. With two men aboard, Miguel Pabon scored on an E4 to make it an eight run lead. A trio of RBI singles later on in the frame put the Pelicans ahead 11-0.
They added one more run in the seventh, all adding up to a final score of 12-0.
Starlyn Pichardo got his third win of the season, while Tolman suffered the hard-luck loss.
In Game 4 on Friday, Jose Atencio looks to get the FredNats back in the win column, against Grant Kipp.
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Chris Graham
