SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

'Birds Ride Knight in Augusta Opener

April 25, 2019 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


SALISBURY, MD - Blaine Knight cruised through five scoreless innings and the Delmarva Shorebirds held on to beat the Augusta GreenJackets 4-3 on Thursday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, their 11th straight home win to begin the season.

Knight (2-0) was lights-out for the Shorebirds (16-2), allowing two hits and facing one over the minimum in five scoreless innings. He walked none and struck out eight on 74 pitches. Knight, the Orioles' No. 10 prospect, now has a team-best 16.2-inning scoreless streak dating back to his Opening Day start in Lexington on April 4.

Seth Corry (0-1) took the loss for the GreenJackets (9-10), surrendering three runs (two earned) on three hits in 3.2 frames. Tyler Joyner took the baton from Knight and finished off the final four innings for his first save, allowing three runs on three hits while walking two and fanning seven.

Delmarva took advantage of a generous Augusta infield in the first. Cadyn Grenier led off with a grounder to third that Wander Franco couldn't handle, ending up on second base after the error. Two batters later, Adam Hall singled him home to make it 1-0 Shorebirds.

Hall sparked a rally himself in the fourth, beating out an infield single to lead off and stealing his way to both second and third. Doran Turchin walked, and Daniel Fajardo lined a single over a leaping second baseman, bringing in Hall and sending a hustling Turchin up to third. After a strikeout, Will Robertson lifted a sac fly into center, deep enough to plate Turchin to put the Shorebirds up 3-0.

Grenier legged out his own infield single to begin the fifth inning, and Robert Neustrom banged an RBI triple off the wall in right center, pushing the Shorebird lead to 4-0.

The run support was more than enough for Knight, who retired the first nine men to face him. Ismael Munguia led off the fourth with a single, but Knight picked him off at first and got the next two men to face the minimum through four. In the fifth, Frankie Tostado mashed a leadoff double. After a strikeout and a groundout to get Tostado to third, Knight fanned Franco swinging to retire the side, giving him three straight starts of five scoreless innings and lowering his ERA to a miniscule 0.87.

The GreenJackets were little match for Joyner until the top of the ninth. Nico Giarratano led off with a single, and Munguia drew a full count walk to put two men on. Joyner then struck out Jose Layer and got Shane Matheny to pop out to short. With two out and a 1-2 count, Tostado lashed an opposite field liner to left that bounced off the top of the wall and over for a three-run homer, suddenly cutting the Delmarva lead to 4-3.

Joyner cut the Augusta rally off there, though, forcing Jacob Gonzalez to line out straight to second to finish it off.

Hall finished 2-for-3 with a run, RBI, and two stolen bases to lead the Shorebirds, pulling his average up to .379, good for second in the SAL. Grenier went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs at the top of the order.

Tostado finished with three of the GreenJackets' five hits, going 3-for-5 with a double, homer, and three RBIs.

The Shorebirds have now won 14 of their last 15 games dating back to April 9. The win builds on the best record by winning percentage (.889) in all of Minor League Baseball. Delmarva has not had a 16-2 stretch at any time of the season since at least 2005 when modern MiLB recordkeeping began.

The Shorebirds will try and stay hot against the GreenJackets on Friday night. Drew Rom (0-0, 4.63) is set to pitch for Delmarva as Grayson Rodriguez's scheduled start is being skipped (innings preservation); Augusta will counter with Sean Hjelle (0-1, 2.75). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. with gates opening at 6:00. The first 1,000 kids 12 and under through the gates on Friday will receive a Shorebirds Cape. It's also another Orange Friday, a Hit the Books Game presented by Dr. Crouse at the Brace Place, and Froggy 99.9 Big Beer Friday presented by First Class HVAC. Pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 6:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.

Check out the Delmarva Shorebirds Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from April 25, 2019


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