A rough first homestand of the season preceded a five game sweep for the Potomac Nationals (12-7 Overall, 2-6 Home) in Wilmington vs. the Blue Rocks.
In their return back home to Pfitzner Stadium, it took just five batters for Potomac take the lead in the bottom of the first, as the P-Nats cruised to a 7-4 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (10-9, 4-4 Road). With two outs in the bottom of the first inning,3B Drew Ward hit his team leading fourth home run of the season, a three-run blast over the wall in right field off of Pelicans’ RHP Jonathan Martinez (L, 1-1). Ward later homered off of Martinez to lead off the sixth inning in route to a career high five RBIs.
In search of his first win of the season, RHP Erick Fedde (W, 1-2) was somewhat wild but produced effective results for the P-Nats. Fedde put together his first quality start of the season, as the righty went six innings and allowed three runs on four hits. One start after he set a new career high with nine strikeouts, Fedde struck out six and walked only one.
Staked to a 4-0 lead after two innings courtesy of Ward’s first inning home run and an RBI double by CF Andrew Stevenson in the second, Fedde saw the lead slowly slip away. Pelicans’ DH Daniel Lockhart began the third inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly from CF Trey Martin. SS Gleyber Torres led off the fourth inning with a single and took advantage of two wild pitches from Fedde to cut the deficit to two runs at 4-2 after three innings. Lockhart then led off the fifth with another extra-base hit, as his first triple of the season put him in place to score on an RBI groundout by C Gioskar Amaya. After 4.5 innings, Potomac led 4-3.
Martinez pitched through the sixth, but gave up what turned out to be the winning run in the frame. To begin the inning, Ward lofted a ball just over the wall in right field, his second home run on the night. It was the first time in Potomac’s first 19 games that a player had multiple home runs. Ward’s team best fifth home run of the year made it 5-3 Potomac.
The P-Nats then tagged RHP Jose Rosario for a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning on back-to-back RBI singles by C Raudy Readand Ward. Ward’s third hit of the night plated 1B Jose Marmolejos and set a new season high in RBIs in a single game for a member of The Red, White, & Blue with five. In the top half of the frame, the P-Nats nearly saw their lead evaporate, as RHP Jake Johansen walked the bottom three hitters in Myrtle Beach’s order, before RHP Greg Ross came out of the pen. Ross struck out LF Charcer Burks and got Torres to ground out to SS Osvaldo Abreu to escape the jam.
The Pelicans added a run and cut the deficit back to three on an RBI single by RF Jeffrey Baez in the eighth against Ross, but that was their last run. RHP Ryan Brinley (SV, 3) worked around a leadoff single in the ninth in route to his team best third save of the season. In the win, Stevenson became the first P-Nats’ starter to record four hits in a game, while Read extended his hit streak to a team best 13 games. All nine Potomac starters reached base at least once, while Read, Ward, and LF Alec Keller all joined Stevenson with a multi-hit game.
Off of a series-opening win, the P-Nats will look for their first home series win of the season Wednesday night, as they take on the Pelicans. First pitch is set for 7:05pm, as Potomac RHP Boone Whiting (3-0, 5.06) looks to become just the second pitcher in the Carolina League to get to four wins. Opposite Whiting, 2014 26th round pick Zach Hedges (1-2, 2.37) will go for the Pelicans. Hedges has allowed just two total earned runs in his last two starts and has a 1.32 ERA over that span. The P-Nats’ broadcast gets underway with the “P-Nats Lead-Off Show” at 6:50 and can be heard at PotomacNationals.com or via the TuneIn Radio App.
Wednesday night will be “Belly Buster Night” at The Pfitz, as fans can purchase tickets for an All-You-Can-Eat buffet for a $7 add-on to any ticket. For the series finale on Thursday night, select drinks will be just $1 during the game. Friday night, as the Nationals welcome in the Wilmington Blue Rocks, kids can run the bases, while a fireworks show will follow Saturday’s 6:35pm game. The homestand concludes on Sunday with a 1:05pm first pitch and “Bark in the Park” day, Sunday Family Fun Day, and a beer tasting with Flying Dog Brewery.
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