Sometimes one bad inning is one too many. For Potomac, that bad inning came in the 1st in a 3-2 loss to Carolina.
The Mudcats jumped on starter Taylor Guilbeau for two hits and two errors that were ruled as hits to score three runs. Just one of the four balls was hit solidly, a double to left by the cleanup man Jake Gatewood.
Guilbeau settled down to retire 10 in a row before the benches cleared after Isan Diaz stepped in front of Matt Reistetter while he was throwing to third to celebrate the whiff. Punches were thrown, bullpens emptied, but no one was hurt and no one was knocked down. Surprisingly, only Diaz and Reistetter were ejected.
Monte Harrison also went down by way of the K for 11 straight before Trent Clark doubled. Carolina would threaten briefly in the 5th but Guilbeau stranded another runner at second and got through the 6th. He pitched well enough to win with a line of three runs on seven hits, no walks, and five K’s.
But Carolina’s Cody Ponce was just as good, if not better. His one bad inning came in the third, when a leadoff double ruled an error by David Masters, a Reistetter single to right, and a Jack Sundberg triple got Potomac within one at 3-2. He worked around two walks in the 4th with help from a L5-3 DP and then gave up a two-out single to Matt Page in the 6th.
Ponce was lifted with two outs in the 7th and the Mudcats relievers were just about lights out, giving up two singles and striking out five of the last seven batters, including in the side in the 9th.
With the loss, the P-Nats drop to 1-2 in the second half and will shoot for series split this afternoon. Luis Reyes (5-6, 4.75), who was torched for seven runs last Sunday by the Mudcats, gets the starting assignment.