Though Mitchell Parker struck out seven more batters to extend his league lead in the category, the Fredericksburg Nationals fell 7-3 to the Delmarva Shorebirds on Saturday night.
Parker (L, 2-3) needed 85 pitches to get through 2.2 innings, and walked a career-high six batters in the loss. The Shorebirds scored in each of the first three innings, giving a pitching staff led by Ignacio Feliz and Brandon Young (W, 2-0) room to work comfortably. The FredNats saw their two-game winning streak come to a close in front of a sellout crowd of 4115.
The Shorebirds jumped ahead early for the second straight night on a leadoff home run in the first. On Saturday, it was Mason Janvrin who deposited a 2-0 Parker pitch over the left-center wall for his third home run of the year. Janvrin went 3-for-4, finishing a double shy of the cycle.
Darell Hernaiz doubled the Shorebirds lead in the second with an RBI single, and a pair of walks came back to bite Parker in the third when J.T. Arruda committed a throwing error to score two runs. Parker left trailing 5-0 and was charged with five runs, two earned.
The FredNats charged back in the bottom of the third off Feliz, getting an RBI groundout from Jeremy De La Rosa and an RBI single from Cole Daily, but managed just a Geraldi Diaz solo homer in the back half of the game as Young pitched the final 4.0 innings of the game.
Gunnar Henderson, the reigning Low-A East Player of the Month for May, was kept in check by Parker, Troy Stainbrook and Tanner Driskill. Henderson went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts, the first five-strikeout game for anyone in the league this season.
The FredNats wrap up their series against the Shorebirds on Sunday afternoon. First pitch from FredNats Ballpark is scheduled for 1:35, with FredNats On Deck beginning at 1:20 on the FredNats Baseball Network.
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Chris Graham
