After getting pounded by the Blue Rocks and clawed by the Hillcats in his last two starts (six runs apiece), starter Matt Swynenberg set down the first seven batters in order to begin the contest before he showed signs of reverting to bad form in the third. A double to left followed by a double to right two batters later plated the first Pelican run.
Meanwhile, the P-Nats picked up where they left off the night before: getting runners on, but getting themselves out. Adrian Sanchez led off the game with line drive down the left field line and coasted into second. Ricky Hague followed with a grounder to short, that Sanchez inexplicably tried to advance to third and was caught for a 6-5 putout. Rehabbing Michael Morse lined out to second, sharply enough for Hague to be doubled off. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am and the P-Nats were done for the first inning.
Zach Walters, who was 4-for-4 on the night, was caught stealing in the second, which Michael Taylor followed with a line-drive single to center — eliciting not cheers from the crowd of 1,429, but a collective groan at what might have been. Through four innings, Potomac had four hits and three left on.
They broke through in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead, as Bloxom doubled to left and went to third on a on opposite-field single by J.P. Ramirez. Randolph Oduber grounded to third to erase Ramirez but beat the relay to get the RBI as Bloxom came in to score. Two batters later, Hague drove in the Groovin’ Aruban to give the P-Nats a 2-1 lead.
Swynenberg couldn’t keep the Pelicans from answering in the 6th, giving up a single and another double (that’s four) to tie the game at 2-2 but bore down to get the next three batters, two by way of the K to finish his night with quality start: two runs allowed, on seven hits and no walks and four strikeouts.
He would get the “W” when Bloxom cleared the Bud Light sign in right field with two outs in the 6th (hence the pic).
Say what you want about the starting pitching, which is starting to come around with three quality starts during the homestand thus far, but the late-inning relief has been a force most of the season; it’s just harder to notice when the team is not in the lead, natch.
Ryan Demmin threw two perfect innings of relief to hand the ball over to Cameron Selik in the 9th. An error started the frame (Walters, his team-leading 14th) but the former Jayhawk rock, rocked the next two batters for caught-looking strikeouts and induced a grounder to second to chalk up his 8th save, the third-best total in the Carolina League.
With the win, Potomac earns a series split and improves to 21-29. First-place Lynchburg comes to town for the weekend, with Adam Olbrychowski (1-4, 6.62) set to take the hill tonight, weather permitting.