Ian Locke
The Norfolk Tides captured a pair of one-run victories with walk-off home runs, sweeping a doubleheader from the Syracuse Chiefs Thursday afternoon at Harbor Park.
In the opener, Luis Sardiñas led off the seventh frame with a solo home run to give the Tides a 2-1 victory.
Sardiñas belted a 3-1 offering from former Tide Josh Edgin (4-3) off the roof of the left field picnic area for his second home run of the season. Sardiñas is now batting .291 (23-79) with a home run and 11 RBI in 21 games with the Tides this month.
Norfolk had trailed the contest 1-0 entering the sixth frame, but the Tides knotted the score courtesy of a two-out balk by Edgin. Breyvic Valera hit a one-out single before moving to second on a walk to DJ Stewart, with Valera advancing to third on a fly ball to center by Pedro Álvarez. Edgin then balked on a pickoff throw to first base, plating Valera to knot the score at 1-1.
Making his first appearance with the Tides, Cody Carroll (4-0) – acquired in Tuesday’s trade with the Yankees for LHP Zach Britton – earned the victory after striking out a pair in a scoreless inning of relief.
Making his first career outing at Harbor Park, Norfolk starter Lucas Long allowed a run on three hits over 3.2 innings of work. He walked one and struck out three before giving way to Luis Gonzalez, who also struck out three over 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
In game two, the Tides won a wild extra-inning affair, as Breyvic Valera hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run to power Norfolk to a 6-5, 13-inning victory.
The contest was scoreless headed into extra innings, and the teams traded single runs in the 8th, 10th, 11th and 12th innings to head to the 13th tied at 4-4. The Chiefs plated a run in the top of the 13th off of Tim Melville (7-6) to take the lead, but Valera opened the bottom of the 13th with a deep fly ball to right field off of Christopher Smith (3-3). The ball hit off the fence just above a leaping Alejandro de Aza and caromed towards the right field line, sending Cedric Mullins – who opened the inning on second base – in to score easily. Valera followed Mullins home, sliding in ahead of a high throw to give the Tides their third walk-off victory in the last two days.
The 13-inning contest was Norfolk’s longest of the season, while the walk-off victory was the 11th for the Tides this year. The inside-the-park home run was the first of Valera’s career, and was the second for the Tides this season after Mike Yastrzemski also accomplished the feat on June 8th at Toledo. Norfolk won three of four games in the series – all in walk-off fashion.
Five Tides hurlers combined to limit the Chiefs to just five hits in the contest, walking three while striking out 12.
Geoff Arnold
WINSTON-SALEM, NC–Michael Baumann tossed six shutout innings of four-hit baseball as the Frederick Keys topped the Winston-Salem Dash 6-1 on Thursday night at BB&T Ballpark. The win gives the Keys a three-game sweep of their CL South rival.
Baumann (6-2) walked one and struck out two en route to his second consecutive start of six scoreless frames. Earning the win, the right-hander has now thrown 13.2 straight innings of scoreless baseball and now leads all Orioles minor league farmhands in wins (11). In the series, Baumann, Cristian Alvarado and Alex Wells all delivered quality starts.
T.J. Nichting put the Keys (48-56, 13-22) ahead 1-0 two batters into the game with a solo homer to right off Blake Battenfield. In the fourth, Frederick scored three more times to go ahead 4-0. Opening the inning with five straight hits, Randolph Gassaway singled home Wilson Garcia, while a double by Jomar Reyes and an RBI single by Jake Ring completed the inning field goal.
Frederick added two more in the sixth to knock Battenfield (3-2) out of the game. With men at second and third, Collin Woody doubled off the leftfield wall to score Preston Palmeiro and Reyes. Tagged with the loss, Battenfield allowed six runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings.
Winston-Salem (62-42, 21-13) managed its only run in the ninth, on a bases-loaded single by Yermin Mercedes, but Tyler Erwin came on and retired both batters he faced to end the game. Erwin earned his 12th save, while striking out one.
Will DeBoer
SUNS SWEEP ‘BIRDS AFTER LONG LAYOFF
Hall on wrong end of 1-0 Game 1 loss; Suns take Game 2 5-3
HAGERSTOWN, MD – After a rain-filled three-day layoff, the Delmarva Shorebirds came out flat in their doubleheader against the Hagerstown Suns on Thursday night at Municipal Stadium, dropping the opener 1-0 and the nightcap 5-3.
Game 1
Gage Canning’s solo home run off DL Hall in the bottom of the first was all the offense Tomas Alastre (4-5) needed. Facing the Shorebirds for the fifth time, Alastre hurled six scoreless five-hit innings, walking one and striking out five.
Hall’s (2-6) one bad pitch cost him in an otherwise spotless outing. He allowed the one run on just two hits over five innings, walking one and striking out nine, including six in a row to end his start. Through four July starts Hall boasts an 0.79 ERA and 34 strikeouts over 22.2 innings.
Frankie Bartow picked up his second save with a scoreless seventh.
Rallies were few and far between for the Shorebirds, who managed just five singles on the day. Branden Becker notched two of them, going 2-for-3.
Canning finished 2-for-3 with a double and solo home run to account for two of the Suns’ three hits. Omar Meregildo singled in the second inning for the only other Hagerstown base knock.
Game 2
Sam Held (3-5) picked up the win in a spot start for the Suns (12-19, 39-60), allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits over five innings. Cameron Bishop (8-5) took the loss for the Shorebirds (18-14, 53-46), surrendering four runs on four hits over five innings. Jhonathan German earned his first save with two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh.
After going 18 innings without scoring, Delmarva finally broke through in the top of the third. Kirvin Moesquit laced a two-out double to left, then Mason McCoy singled him home to make it 1-0 Shorebirds.
The Suns countered in a big way in the bottom of the fourth. Armond Upshaw led off with a bunt single and stole second base, then Cole Freeman laid down another bunt hit that put men on first and third. A passed ball allowed Upshaw to score the tying run and Freeman to move up to second, then Jake Scudder singled two batters later to put runners on the corners again. Alex Dunlap lifted the go-ahead sac fly into center, then Meregildo belted a two-run homer to left, making it a four-spot in the inning and a 4-1 Hagerstown lead.
The Shorebirds got a pair back in the top of the fifth. Ben Breazeale led off with a single and got to second on a groundout. Max Hogan then chopped a grounder to first that Meregildo mishandled, putting runners at first and third. Moesquit hit into an RBI fielder’s choice, and McCoy belted a double to left center, plating Moesquit to get Delmarva within 4-3.
Hagerstown tacked on one more in the sixth. Freeman beat out a leadoff infield hit, took second on a grounder, and eventually scored when Dunlap muscled a single into left, giving the game its final margin.
Moesquit finished 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, an RBI, and his league-leading 38th stolen base. McCoy went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Dunlap and Meregildo each drove in two runs for the Suns.
Despite the losses, the Shorebirds still won the inaugural Governor’s Cup, taking the season series over their in-state rivals 9-8.
Michael Lehr
Morgantown, WV – After an offensive clinic in game one, the AberdeenIronBirds put up defensive dominance in game two against the West Virginia Black Bears with a 5-1 victory to snap a seven game losing streak.
REPEAT: Just as he did in game one, Nick Horvath doubled in the his first at bat in the first inning. Alexis Torres scored him on an RBI single. Torres racked up three hits on the night.
HAND IT TO HAMMONDS: Matt Hammonds threw a gem of a start and set up the ‘Birds for victory. He threw four innings allowing just one run. Travis Swaggerty homered as the leadoff man in the first to tie the game at one. Hammonds would keep them scoreless after that and deal out seven strikeouts.
JUMP AHEAD: Black Bear mistakes cost them two runs in the second. Seamus Curran and Dalton Hoiles both scored on an error and an Alfredo Gonzalez groundout to make it 3-1. In the third inning Seamus Curran drilled an RBI double to score Robert Neustrom and make it 4-1.
PULL AWAY: In the sixth the ‘Birds would add one more. Torres doubled for his second hit and came around on a ground ball single from Adam Hall.
ROOMIE HOOKS IT UP: Hammond’s roommate Kevin Magee would be next on the mound, he threw three scoreless frames and earned a big double play ball to get out of the sixth.
ONE INNING WORK: Brandon Bonilla and Ryan Conroy came in and worked scoreless innings to seal the deal. Aberdeen got their first win since July 14th and came out on top 5-1.
BIRD WATCHING: Adam Hall has hit safely in each of the last four games. Alexis Torres’ three hit night was his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
