In the first game of their longest road trip of the season, the Potomac Nationals (35-40, 2-3) took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, saw the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (44-30, 1-3) plate three runs, but escaped with a 4-3 victory. RHP Gilberto Mendez (SV, 9) struck out LF Eloy Jimenez with two runners on base to end the game.
Both teams got good starting pitching performances, as the game didn’t feature a run until the top of the fifth inning. Potomac finally cracked LHP Justin Steele (L, 5-4) with three singles in a span of four batters in the fifth frame. SS Edwin Lora led off with a single, RF Rhett Wiseman followed with a base hit, while C Matt Reistetter dropped down a successful sacrifice bunt, which put men at second and third base. Already with a hit on the night, 2B Bryan Mejia grounded a single past 1B Tyler Alamo, which plated both Lora and Wiseman. Steele allowed only those two runs over 5.2 innings.
The P-Nats doubled up their lead on one swing against LHP Tommy Thorpe in the eighth inning. After RHP Nolan Sanburn (W, 3-1) stranded the tying runs in scoring position in the seventh inning, Thorpe gave up a leadoff single to 1B Ian Sagdal in the eighth frame. After LF Dale Carey bunted into a force out at second base, 3B David Masters hit a towering shot over the left field wall. His fourth home run of the season made it 4-0 in favor of Potomac, and proved to be the difference in the game. Sanburn matched his season high in strikeouts with nine over seven-shutout innings.
Potomac took the shutout into the ninth inning, and saw the Pelicans have multiple batters reach base in just two of the first eight frames. RHP Dakota Bacus worked around a single in a scoreless eighth inning, but couldn’t finish off the final frame. DH Eddy Martinez began the bottom of the ninth with a single, but was forced out at second base on a groundout by SS Trent Giambrone. Alamo followed with a single, while a base hit from CF Connor Myers loaded the bases. Representing the tying run, RF Robert Garcia plated a run with a groundout to Lora. With two outs, C P.J. Higgins grounded out to Lora, but the Potomac shortstop failed to field it cleanly, which kept the game going and scored Alamo. 2B Bryant Flete followed with an RBI single, which pulled the Pelicans within one run and put the tying run at second base. Bacus departed for Mendez, who struck out Jimenez, the top prospect in the Cubs’ system.
The teams combined for just three hits in 20 at-bats with RISP in the game and left a combined 17 men on base. In the win, the top two hitters in Potomac’s order, CF Victor Robles and DH Jack Sundberg, went a combined 0-10. The hitless night for Robles ended a nine-game hit streak, while Sundberg went hitless for the second straight day after he had tallied at least one hit in eight straight starts.
Off of the one-run victory, the P-Nats will try to make it two wins in a row for the first time in nearly two weeks. LHP Grant Borne (3-2, 1.61) is set to start for Potomac Tuesday night. The left-handed starter has tallied four consecutive quality starts and is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA over that span. For the Pelicans, RHP Adbert Alzolay (6-1, 2.83) will look to level the series. Alzolay has recorded a quality start in four of his last five outings, and has surrendered more than three runs just once in 13 starts in 2017.
First pitch at TicketReturn.com Field is set for 7:05pm Tuesday night. The Potomac broadcast will get underway at 6:50pm with the P-Nats Leadoff Show. You can listen to the Potomac broadcast at potomacnationals.com or on the TuneIn Radio App.
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Chris Graham
