Erick Fedde and the P-Nats were done in by three home runs – two over the wall, and one “inside the park” – as the Blue Rocks doubled up the P-Nats, 6-3.
For the second straight game, Wilmington struck in the first. Fedde fell behind the first batter 3-0 before working the count full and walking. After getting the second man on a flyout to right, the third batter hit a hard line drive in front of center fielder Andrew Stevenson.
Stevenson ultimately stumbled and flopped and the ball skipped past him to the wall, allowing both runners to score. It was initially (correctly) ruled a single and a three-base error, then inexplicably (and incorrectly*) changed to a home run.
* That he never touched the ball didn’t change the fact that he clearly misplayed it, which allowed both the batter-runner and the baserunner to advance additional bases.
Shitty Questionable scorekeeping aside, Potomac was trailing again after just a half-inning. Unlike the previous night, they were able to answer immediately as Jose “The Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz singled with two outs and scored on a Raudy Read double to cut the lead to 2-1 in favor of the visitors.
After the “homer,” Fedde settled down to retire 10 of the next 12 batters he faced. He ran into trouble again in the 6th when the Blue Rocks went deep twice in the space of three batters to extend the lead to 4-1. Fedde whiffed the final two batters he faced to finish with six but was on the hook for the loss.
Andrew Robinson followed from the ‘pen but was lit up for two run on three hits, including a triple and double, in just one inning to push the Wilmington advantage to 6-1. Ryan Brinley closed out the game with two scoreless innings, with one walk and two strikeouts.
Unfortunately, the P-Nats bats also went silent after 1st and didn’t awaken — except for one-out singles in the 5th and 6th — until the 8th when Stevenson singled to lead off the inning then trotted home ahead of Osvaldo Abreu’s two-run homer that cut the Blue Rocks’ lead to the eventual final of 6-3.
Despite a uniform-grazing HBP to lead off the 9th, Potomac went quietly in the 9th to lose again and drop into second place in the Carolina North, a half-game behind Lynchurg.
The four-game series continues tonight, with Boone Whiting (1-0, 1.80) getting the start for the P-Nats against Ashton Goudeau (1-0, 3.60) for the Blue Rocks.