CarL Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Birds Win Fourth Straight with Another Late Comeback over Fireflies

August 6, 2021 - Carolina League (CarL)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


For the second straight night, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans trailed after seven innings but came back to win their fourth-consecutive game against the Columbia Fireflies by the final of 3-2 on Friday night in 10 innings. The four-game winning streak is the longest for the Pelicans this season and brings them two games within .500 at 40-42. Columbia drops to 38-43 after falling in the first four games of the series.

The win was a historic one for Pelicans' manager Buddy Bailey, as he collected the 2,185th win of his 33-year career, tying him with Johnny Lipon for the fourth-most victories in Minor League Baseball history by a manager.

The Pelicans rallied late, with all three of their runs coming after the sixth inning. Jordan Nwogu (3-5, 2B, RBI) carried the lineup with his second three-hit performance of the season. Kevin Made (2-5, 2B) collected his sixth multi-hit game in his last eight starts. The Birds tallied seven hits for the game.

Gabriel Jaramillo (3-1) was masterful through the final two innings of the game. The right-hander tossed two scoreless innings with four strikeouts to clinch his third win of the season. Tyler Schlaffer started the game and lasted just over five innings with one earned run off three hits and six strikeouts. The Pelicans' bullpen held the Fireflies to just one hit over the final 4 2/3 innings.

Columbia was held to just four hits for the 10-inning game as Tyler Tolbert (2-4, HR, RBI) provided half of them including a home run. Tolbert collected the only RBI for the game as well for the Fireflies.

Zack Phillips (0-3) took the loss after surrendering the go-ahead run in the 10th. Matt Stil threw the opening four innings with just two hits allowed and no runs.

The game's first run came in the bottom of the fourth inning as Tolbert came up with the bases empty and one out. He flew a ball to right field that carried over the fence for his third homer of the season as the Fireflies took an early 1-0 lead.

The Columbia lead would extend in the bottom of the sixth as Diego Hernandez worked a one-out walk to get on base. After Jose Almonte came in to replace Schlaffer, Tolbert lined a single up the middle to put runners on the corners. Herard Gonzalez replaced Tolbert on first base with a force out at second for the second out of the inning. In the next at-bat, Almonte threw the ball wild to first on a pickoff attempt that allowed Hernandez to score to extend the Fireflies lead to 2-0.

As the later innings approached, the Pelicans' bats heated up. Pablo Aliendo walked to lead off the seventh inning and moved over to second on Jacob Wetzel's sacrifice bunt. Fabian Pertuz followed with a single to left field that put runners on the corners. After a mound visit, Ethan Hearn flew a ball to center that scored Aliendo and put Myrtle Beach on the board, down 2-1.

In the eighth, it was Ezequiel Pagan leading off with a walk and getting to third on a double by Kevin Made right after. After Nwogu struck out, Matt Mervis hit a grounder off the pitcher and was thrown out at first by second baseman Tolbert as Pagan scored the tying run.

As the game headed to extras tied 2-2, Myrtle Beach took advantage of Luis Verdugo starting at second base. Pagan grounded out to second to lead off the inning as Verdugo got to third. After Made struck out, Nwogu singled in between short and third as Verdugo crossed home to give the Pelicans a 3-2 lead.

After throwing a wild pitch that allowed Columbia's runner to get to third to start the inning, Jaramillo retired the following three batters to end the game.

Myrtle Beach has already clinched the series by taking the first four games and will look to keep the streak going against the Fireflies on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m.

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Carolina League Stories from August 6, 2021


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