Destin Hood’s single to left field in the bottom of the 10th inning sent the Potomac Nationals to a 4-3 win over the Winston-Salem Dash on Wednesday in Woodbridge. Eury Perez, who walked to open the inning, scored the winning run for the Nationals, who have played three consecutive extra-inning games.
A briskly played contest saw the Nationals surrender a pair of leads before surging ahead for good in the tenth. Evan Bronson and Justin Collop were both incredibly efficient and breezed through the early innings, and a ten-inning affair was completed in two hours and 19 minutes.
Potomac drew first blood in the second inning. Steven Souza doubled to deep left-center field with one out to score Justin Bloxom, who had singled to open the inning. The Dash leveled the score with a two-out rally in the third. After a pair of one-out singles, Sandy Leon threw out Daniel Wagner as he tried to steal third. One pitch later, Jared Mitchell blooped a single into left to score Tyler Saladino.
The Dash went ahead in the fifth, and again Wagner was involved. His two-out single became a run when Saladino tripled off the wall in right.
Potomac took its second lead in the sixth inning. A leadoff walked to Francisco Soriano sparked the rally. After a Jeff Kobernus single, Hood was retired on the infield fly rule. Bloxom then singled home Kobernus and scored when Justino Cuevas doubled to left.
The Nationals had the lead for exactly one pitch in the seventh. Bronson gave up a home run to Dash catcher Mike Blanke to open the inning, but then got the next three outs.
Neil Holland then made his Potomac debut and dazzled. The righthander, promoted today from Hagerstown, struck out all three Dash batters in the eighth and retired Winston in order in the ninth.
The P-Nats had base runners in both the eighth and ninth innings, but double play balls ended both threats.
J.R. Ballinger (4-1) pitched the ninth and tenth for Winston-Salem and was saddled with his first loss. Rob Wort (1-2) threw a perfect tenth inning and earned his first win.
The clubs continue the series Thursday night in Woodbridge. Paul Demny takes the ball for Potomac at 7:05 P.M.
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