For the second consecutive night, the Potomac Nationals (47-41, 13-7) fell at BB&T Ballpark to the Winston Salem Dash (38-53, 10-11). Though it was not a stinging late-inning loss like Thursdaynight, it seemed just as tough, as the P-Nats gave up eight runs in the fourth inning. The Dash sent 13 men to the plate in the frame and came away with a 10-4 victory, which earned them a series win.
The two teams breezed through the first 3.5 innings, but the floodgates opened against LHP Matthew Crownover (L, 0-4) in the bottom of the fourth. DH Telvin Nash led off the frame with a walk and 2B Toby Thomas made it 2-0 Winston-Salem with a two-run home run. LF Michael Suiter then singled, and SS Cleuluis Rondon reached on a fielding error by 3B Bryan Mejia on what could have been an inning-ending double play. The error proved costly, as six more runs scored in the inning. CF Hunter Jones reached safely on a sacrifice bunt, while 3B Gerson Montilla walked with the bases loaded, which made it 3-0. Crownover got RF Mason Robbins to ground into a fielder’s choice out at the plate, but that did it for the Potomac starter. Out of the bullpen, RHP Trey Lambert gave up a sacrifice fly to 1B Nick Basto, which made it 4-0. With two outs, C Zack Collins, in his Dash debut, cleared the wall in left-centerfield. Collins’ three-run home run made it 7-0. Two more walks followed, and Suiter then capped the scoring in the inning with an RBI single. The eight run inning was the largest offensive inning against Potomac thus far in 2016.
Against RHP Spencer Adams (W, 8-7) for the third time this season, the P-Nats fared about as well as they did in the previous two outings. Adams allowed two runs over six+ innings and improved to 3-0 against Potomac this season. The rightyh cruised through the first six innings before he gave up a single to LF Alec Keller to start the seventh. RF Drew Vettleson followed with a two-run home run to right field, which made it 8-2, though that was as close as the P-Nats got. RHP Kelvis Valerio (SV, 2) walked C Jake Lowery but got DH Austin Davidson to ground into an inning-ending double play to escape further damage in the seventh.
The Dash made it 9-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning against Lambert on a single by Thomas and an RBI double by Suiter. Thomas then made it 10-2 with a two-out RBI double in the ninth. Suiter finished the night 4-5 with two RBIs while Thomas wrapped up the evening 4-4 with a home run, three RBIs, two runs scored, and a walk.
Potomac chipped away in the ninth inning vs. Valerio, but never got back into the game. With one out, Vettleson hit his second home run of the night, a solo blast over the right field wall. It was the fifth time a Potomac hitter has hit two home runs in a game this season. With two outs, Davidson had an RBI double, which made it 10-4, but CF Dale Carey struck out to end the game.
The P-Nats had multiple streaks end in Friday night’s loss. 2B Max Schrock went hitless for the first time in his 17 starts with Potomac, while 1B Jose Marmolejos had a 12-game on-base streak snapped and Carey had an 11-game on-base streak end. Continuing their respective streaks, Mejia reached base in his 16th consecutive start, while Keller reached in his 10th straight start. CF Victor Robles lengthened his hit streak to five games and Vettleson improved his on-base streak to seven games in the loss.
Off of their first series loss of the second half, the P-Nats will head to Salem and begin a four-game series vs. the Red Sox Saturday night. RHP Whit Mayberry (1-1, 4.76) will make his third start of the season for Potomac. After two quality starts to open his campaign with the P-Nats, the righty gave up six earned runs over five innings in his last start, a loss vs. Carolina. Opposite Mayberry, LHP Daniel McGrath (3-3, 3.99) is set for his 10th start of the season for the Red Sox. McGrath has allowed just one earned run in each of his last three starts and has an ERA of 1.47 over that stretch. First pitch is set for 7:05pm at LewisGale Field.
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