Sometimes rehabs giveth and sometimes they taketh — and sometimes it’s both.
Rehabbing Chris Marrero singled twice (one flare, one line drive) and drove in one but two grooved fastballs (read: no-doubt-about-it HRs) by rehabbing Ryan Mattheus tied and lost the game in the 8th as the Potomac Nationals fell 3-2 in the final home game of the first half.
Potomac opened the game with a leadoff single by Blake Kelso, who stole second (#19) an third (#20) to set up Marrero’s RBI grounder to 3B, which was momentarily bobbled to prevent a play at the plate.
Salem would tie the game at 1-1 as reserve catcher Carson Blair doubled in 19-year-old Xander Bogaerts off starter Trevor Holder, who gave up five walks in five inning.
Holder was in a position to win, thanks J.P. Ramirez’s leading off the 5th with a single to center, taking second on an error, third on Erick Fernandez’s sacrifice bunt, and sliding in under a poor throw as Kelso tapped a high grounder to short.
Jimmy Barthmaier followed Holder with two shaky innings, rescued by a diving stop and tag of third and toss across to first DP by Kelso to end the 6th and Salem’s Jackie Bradley Jr. baserunning miscue that doubled him off to end the 7th.
Despite Mattheus’s poor showing, the P-Nats still had a chance to win as Marrero and Bloxom, who both went 2-for-4, reached base with one out but neither Zach Walters (strikeout) nor Michael Taylor (flyout) could push either runner across.
After another 1-2-3 outing by Rob Wort, Potomac’s 7-8-9 batters followed suit.
Combined with another win by Lynchburg, the elimination number for the P-Nats is now just four with seven games to play — the next four on the road against the Winston-Salem Dash, which leads the Carolina league with 37 wins, 20 at their home venue of BB&T park, where the P-Nats were swept in late April.