The Potomac pitchers limited the Myrtle Beach to just eight singles on Tuesday afternoon. The problem were those eight doubles, two triples, and five home runs as the Myrtle Beach lineup had their way with 23 hits in a 20-6 assault and battery.
The trainwreck tenor of the game was set immediately as the top three Pelican hitters tripled, singled and doubled for a 2-0 lead before a single out was recorded. That out was an ill-advised attempted steal of third with nobody out, the first of three would-be base thieves Sandy Leon would thwart.
After a flyout to the cleanup hitter, there was a brief hope that maybe starter Mitchell Clegg would escape with just a couple of runs. Instead, it was single, double, triple, double for three more runs and a 5-0 deficit.
After extending the lead to 6-0 with a leadoff triple and a sac fly, Potomac returned the favor with a five-run second inning with two singles, two doubles, a triple, and a couple of run-scoring outs to pull within one at 6-5.
But the hits (and the runs) just kept coming, capped by a grand slam in the fourth that ended Clegg’s outing. Though the last four runs were unearned, that’s the lipstick on the piggish line of 11 runs allowed on 13 hits with one walk and one strikeout over three and 2/3rds.
Ryan Demmin followed Clegg, retiring the last batter of the fourth and getting through the fifth and sixth, but anyone wondering if perhaps luck was being pushed had their suspicions confirmed with a leadoff homer to start the seventh. Demmin would finish the frame after a walk to the second batter, for a final line of 3.1IP 2H 1R 1ER 1BB and 3K, his best outing of the year.
Adam Olbrychowski, coming off a blown save last night, was asked to pitch the eighth, but fared even worse with three runs allowed on three hits and a walk. In the ninth, Jose Lozada took one for the team (and saved the bullpen), allowing the last five runs on five hits without a walk or a strikeout.
The loss drops Potomac to 10-14 for the year and ties the series at 1-1. Trevor Holder (1-2, 6.75) will be tasked with pitching the team to a series victory tomorrow night, opposed by Myrtle Beach’s Joe Wieland (1-2, 2.52)