In another so-called meaningless game, the Potomac Nationals took their fans on a roller-coaster of emotion with a 7-6 win to close out the second half of the 2010 season.
Ahead 5-1 in the ninth, and a rested A.J. Morris on the mound, the game looked like it was in the bag. Except someone forgot to tell Kinston, who got an infield single to third and two singles to center pull within three at 5-2.
Morris would get the next five batters to hit the ball on the ground, none would leave the infield by virtue of the bat, but Kinston would emerge with the lead.
Doug Pickens would be safe on an error by Tyler Moore that the scorekeeper saw otherwise (if at all) to load the bases. The next batter, Donnie Webb, would reach base by virtue of Nicol’s unsuccessful attempt to put out Pickens, the throw sailing past Francisco Soriano into foul territory for a two-base error that saw Webb take third, and three runs come in to score for a 5-5.
The next three grounders to short would result in outs, but Webb was able to score on the second to get the go-ahead run and give Kinston a 6-5 lead.
But this is a veteran Potomac team, an adjective that’s somewhat pejorative with minor-league fan(boy)s, but in this case it simply means they carried themselves like they’ve seen this before.
Derek Norris flew out to right to open the inning, but Bill Rhinhart singled to put the tying run on base, speedster Chris Curran taking his place at first base to score on a long hit that stayed in the park. Tyler Moore, who had homered to open the scoring way back in the second, struck out. Jose Lozada fell behind 0-2 but plunked a single to shallow center to push Curran to second.
Both managers went to their reserves for a better matchup, Potomac summoning Jamar Walton to bat from the left side and Kinston calling for Matt Langwell to replace a tiring Tyler Sturdevant. Like Lozada, Walton fell behind quickly, but battled back to work the count full and then draw the walk to load the bases.
Next came up 26-year-old Robbie Jacobsen, backup catcher, corner infielder, left fielder, and twice this season, bullpen-saving reliever. Again, Langwell got the drop, getting ahead 0-2, but couldn’t get the swinging strike as Jacobsen fouled off the nibbles, and wouldn’t chase the pitcher’s pitches to work the count to 2-2.
The battle ended with a two-out drive to left field that brought in Curran and Lozada, gave the P-Nats a 7-6 win, and secured a winning overall record at 70-69. But perhaps more importantly, the veteran delivered that perceptible-but-immeasurable momentum going into the Mills Cup playoffs against the Frederick Keys, beginning on Wednesday.