Asheville built a 3-0 lead on a pair of home runs to send 19-y.o. starter Travis Ott to the showers after just two and 1/3rd innings. With no tomorrow, Hagerstown manager Patrick Anderson turned to former starter Jake Johansen — who was removed from the rotation in late July, and quite frankly, wasn’t any less ineffective as a reliever — to eat innings and hope for the bats to come alive.
The comeback came three innings later with some “help” from the Tourists defense, as Jimmy Yezzo connected for a two-out, two-run triple, then tied it up on error by third baseman Ryan McMahon. Cody Dent, who had homered once in his professional career prior to last night, got his second to give the Suns an improbable 5-3 lead. I’ve heard there’s a family history of this.
But perhaps more unexpected was the performance that Johansen turned in. During the regular season, he was scored upon in all 18 starts and either gave up an inherited runner or one of his own in 10 of 11 relief outings. That one other scoreless outing, however, was against last-place Lakewood.
A reasonable expectation: one or two runs over three or four innings. Instead, Johansen shut down the league’s most potent offense for three and 2/3rds innings with just one hit allowed, no walks, and two strikeouts.
Hagerstown would get an insurance run in the 7th, again with the help of some defensive incompetence. A dropped third strike following back-to-back two-out singles loaded the bases for Yezzo, who delivered another RBI knock with a single to plate the sixth and final Suns run. Yezzo would finish the night at 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI to lead Hagerstown’s 12-hit attack.
The run wouldn’t be needed as Justin Thomas, who took over for Johansen in the 7th, faced the mininum of nine over three innings with three strikeouts to earn the save.
Nick Pivetta (13-8, 4.22) and Konner Wade (8-8, 3.61) will rematch in Game Five, and will likely be a lower score than the 16-7 result in Game One.