Lynchburg used a seven-run fifth inning to overcome a four-run deficit to defeat the Wilmington Blue Rocks 8-4 on Saturday night at City Stadium. With the victory, the Hillcats have won their last six series.
UNLUCKY START
Luis Lugo (7-9) entered the game seeking his first win since July 23, but Wilmington made it seem like that would not happen after posting a four-run third inning. Dominique Taylor singled and stole second base before Carlos Garcia reached on a fielding error by Paul Hendrix. Jack Lopez drove home Taylor with a RBI single to give Wilmington a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Ryan O’Hearn smacked his second home run of the year, a three-run shot that put Wilmington up 4-0.
NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH
Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Hillcats had mustered just one hit up to that point, but a double by Eric Haase got things going for the offense. Lynchburg cranked out five straight extra-base hits to erase the deficit and take the lead. Following the double by Haase, Claudio Bautista squeaked his second home run of the year just over the left field wall to cut the lead in half, 4-2.
AUDIO: Bautista two-run home run
Ivan Castillo doubled in the next at-bat and scored on a RBI triple by LeVon Washington to bring the Hillcats within one. The triple by Washington marked his third in his last two games.
It didn’t take long for Washington to score as Paul Hendrix doubled to tie the game at four.
Hendrix advanced to third after a fly out by Clint Frazier, and Nellie Rodriguez reached on a walk to give the Hillcats runners at the corners with two outs. Dorssys Paulino tripled to right field to score both Hendrix and Rodriguez and put the Hillcats ahead 6-4.
Mike Papi finished off the scoring with a single to right that scored Paulino to give the Hillcats a 7-4 lead.
ONE FOR GOOD MEASURE
Luis Lugo pitched through the sixth inning and allowed just one earned run on eight hits while walking one and striking out three to pick up his seventh win of the season. The Hillcats bullpen held the Blue Rocks scoreless through the remainder of the game, but Nellie Rodriguez added a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to put the Hillcats up 8-4. The home run wasRodriguez’s league-leading 17th dinger of the year.
AUDIO: Rodriguez solo home run
KEEPING UP WITH THE CATS
Dorssys Paulino added two more RBIs in the win over the Blue Rocks…In 23 games with the Hillcats, Paulino has recorded 19 RBIs…Clint Frazier went 1-for-4 at the plate to extend his hit streak to 10 games…Frazier will have a chance to make it 11 straight games and tie his longest streak of the year tomorrow in the series finale…With 12 hits in the win tonight, the Hillcats have recorded double-digit hits in eight of their last 11 games…During that span, the Hillcats have a 7-1 record when reaching the 10 hit mark…The loss for Wilmington marks their 13th straight…Lynchburg has won 11 of its last 13 games during that same span.
UP NEXT
Lynchburg will look to sweep the series with a victory over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Gates will open at 1 p.m. Denny McLain will be making an appearance at City Stadium during tomorrow’s game. Fans can tune in to the action on ESPN Virginia 93.3 FM and 1320 AM as well as www.lynchburg-hillcats.com beginning at 1:40 p.m. for the Hillcats On-Deck Show.
– Source: Lynchburg Hillcats
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Chris Graham
