They still gave up their customary six to the Blue Rocks. They still were sloppy on defense. But the lumber came out of its slumber as the P-Nats pounded out 13 hits and stopped a two-game slide with a 14-6 win over the Blue Rocks.
They only waited on (Wilmington starter Ashton) Goudeau until the 2nd inning, when they took advantage of two errors to score four runs, highlighted by Khayyan Norfork scampering home from second base on the second miscue and ending with a two-run triple from Osvaldo Abreu to take a 4-1 lead.
Potomac starter Boone Whiting couldn’t stand the prosperity and gave the lead right back with three runs in the 3rd. The veteran eventually would win for the second time in as many starts but with a Jack Morris line of six runs on ten hits over five innings with one walk and three whiffs.
In the 4th, back-to-back walks followed by a sacrifice by Narciso Mesa enabled Potomac to leverage its speed and score twice on an groundout by Andrew Stevenson and an infield single by Abreu. Jose “The Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz then, um, crushed the ball over the right field wall for a two-run homer to push the lead to 8-4.
Potomac would put the game away with a three-run 6th. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for Drew Ward, who emptied them with a double to the left-center gap, a ball hit hard enough for catcher Raudy Read to amble in all the way from first base for an 11-6 advantage.
Three doubles in the 7th (Mesa, Abreu, Marmolejos-Diaz) pushed it to 13-6 while a Keller triple and a wild pitch in the 8th plated the 14th and final P-Nats run.
Relievers Mario Sanchez (3IP) and Justin Thomas (1IP) combined for four scoreless innings of relief to close out the game.
Potomac will shoot for the 2-2 series split with Luis Reyes (0-1, 4.50) getting the ball vs. Colin Rodgers (0-0, 0.00) for Wilmington.