Sports stats



SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

Bray Slams the Door on Kannapolis Comeback Effort

April 23, 2016 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


SALISBURY, MD - On a night where the Shorebirds seemed like they were constantly trying to keep their balance on a high-wire act at the circus, Ofelky Peralta, Garrett Cleavinger and Jake Bray stranded 14 Kannapolis Intimidators on base in a 4-2 win on Saturday night. Kannapolis left 10 runners in scoring position.

The first inning was as forgettable as it was unforgettable. The top and bottom half of the inning combined to take 35 minutes and both teams got on the board early. Left-hander Ryan Riga pitched to five Shorebirds and had full counts on each one, finishing the frame with 34 pitches and only 17 strikes. Delmarva got on the board on D.J. Stewart's RBI single to center field. It could have been 2-0, but Ryan Mountcastle was gunned down at the plate by Tyler Sullivan on a perfect throw to the dish.

Four batters into the home half of the inning, Kannapolis had the lead. Ofelky Peralta struggled to find home plate, throwing 31 pitches in the inning and only 14 strikes. After Tyler Sullivan led off with a walk and stolen base, Landon Lassiter doubled him home to tie the game at 1-1. After the first of Peralta's four wild pitches moved Lassiter to third base, Seby Zavala singled up the middle and gave the Intimidators the 2-1 lead.

Thankfully for both teams, that was the worst inning of pitching all night. But as fate would have it, the Shorebirds tied the game on the biggest pitching blunder of the night - Riga balked home the tying run in the top of the fifth, scoring Jack Graham.

The Shorebirds scored twice in the top of the sixth, thanks to Yermin Mercedes and Gerrion Grim. Stewart led off the inning with a walk, reaching base for the 8th consecutive time in the series. The Mercedes continued his assault on the baseball with a triple to left-center field. A few pitches later, Gerrion Grim hit a check swing single just inside the bag at first to score Mercedes and push the Delmarva lead to 4-2. Grim was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the base hit to a double. Alejandro Juvier tripled two batters later, but he was stranded at third to end the inning. Grim finished 3-4 with an RBI and Mercedes has now gone 8-13 with four doubles, a triple, a home run, four RBI's and five runs scored in the first three games of the series.

While there was no more scoring, there was still plenty of drama. Garrett Cleavinger got out of the sixth inning with two on and two out. In the seventh, he got a double-play to end the frame when there were runners at first and second with one out. Danny Mendick and Tyler Sullivan both hit two out singles in the eighth inning, but Jake Bray came on to strike out Lassiter to close the frame.

Bray allowed a lead-off double and walk in the ninth to Corey Zangari and Zavala, before Cody Daily sacrificed the runners over. But as the Shorebirds had done all night, Bray pulled out one last Houdini effort and struck out Antonio Rodriguez and Micker Adolfo to seal the win.

Check out the Delmarva Shorebirds Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from April 23, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Delmarva Shorebirds Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central