Another strong outing from Erick Fedde was nearly ruined by an MLB rehab, but the P-Nats survived scares in the 8th and 9th innings to take another from the Dash, 5-2.
About the only issue you could take with his outing is that Fedde put on the leadoff man three times in six innings. Winston-Salem batters reach second just twice — a leadoff double by longtime Dash 1B Keon Barnum in the 2nd, a two-out double by Brett Austin in the 5th.
In between, the 23-y.o. Las Vegas native ran the table with nine straight retired before giving up a leadoff single in the 5th that was erased with a 5-4-3 DP. Fedde finished with four hits allowed, one walk, and five strikeouts to even his won-loss record at 3-3.
Offensively, the lower half of the Potomac order carried the day with six of the nine hits and all five runs scored.
Bryan Mejia (1-for-3) doubled and scored on an Alec Keller (2-for-3) single in the 2nd. Narciso Mesa (2-for-3) led off the 3rd with a single and scored on a 4-6-3 DP, then capped off a three-run 4th with a two-run triple that brought in Keller and David Masters (1-for-3).
Matt Belisle came on in the 7th to “work on stuff” and was worked over by the last-place Winston-Salem lineup for two runs on four hits over two innings. The veteran reliever did strike out three in his third appearance since joining the P-Nats.
R.C. Orlan came on in the 9th and high-wired his way through the 9th with an Osvaldo Abreu error and two wild pitches bringing the tying run up to the plate with two outs before a flyout ended the game.
The win, Potomac’s fourth straight, improved the second-place P-Nats to 26-20 but that’s still 4½ games off the pace set by Lynchburg.
The two teams will meet this afternoon for the third of four games, with Boone Whiting (5-1, 3.45) taking the hill for Potomac vs. Jordan Stephens (0-6, 5.31) for Winston-Salem.