CarL1 Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Catcher's homer, reliever's three Ks set up Sunday rubber game for Birds, Tribe

Published on June 11, 2011 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


KINSTON, N.C. - The Pelicans got to Kinston All-Star starter Drew Pomeranz for five runs over five innings, handing the big lefty his second loss in as many appearances against Myrtle Beach, and behind an eighth-inning Vinny DiFazio homer and ninth-inning dominance from reliever Johan Yan, nailed down a 6-5 Saturday victory over the Indians in front of a sellout crowd at Historic Grainger Stadium.

The fifth overall draft selection a year ago out of Ole Miss, southpaw Pomeranz faced the Pelicans one other time this year, in his much hyped duel with Robbie Erlin at BB&T Coastal Field on May 12, and took the defeat, not making it through five innings that day. Saturday night, the Pelicans got to Pomeranz in much the same way they did last time, scratching out single runs in the second on an RBI groundout by Santiago Chirino and third on a run-scoring base hit by Jared Prince to get started with a 2-0 lead.

Unlike that date with Erlin in Myrtle Beach, however, Pomeranz's offense responded against Pelicans starter Wilfredo Boscan when, with two outs, Tyler Holt and Casey Frawley singled and homered respectively to even the game at two.

The Pelicans weren't done against the league's ERA leader, however, and broke out for three unearned runs against Pomeranz in the fifth, two crossing on a Prince double that came three batters after an Abner Abreu one-out missed catch error on a line drive to center allowed Mitch Hilligoss to reach and go to second. Prince cashed in both Hilligoss and All-Star Ryan Strausborger's walk behind him to break the tie and make it 4-2 in favor of Myrtle Beach. DiFazio then drove home the first of two runs on his night with a first-pitch single to left to bring home Prince and up the score to 5-2 Pelicans.

In the bottom of the inning, the Indians again countered against Boscan, getting some help themselves from shaky Pelicans defense. Leury Garcia's two errors opened the door to two unearned K-Tribe tallies on a successfully converted squeeze bunt by Holt scoring Justin Toole and a sacrifice fly by Bo Greenwell plating Delvi Cid. With two on and two out, however, Boscan retired Tyler Cannon to close things out and keep his club in front at 5-4.

Things stayed that way for each club until the eighth when DiFazio came through for the Birds, crushing a one-out solo home run over the center-field wall against reliever Chris Jones to give the Pelicans some short-lived breathing room at 6-4. In the bottom half, however, Kinston again drew within one on a two-out double and RBI single by Tyler Cannon and Adam Abraham to make it 6-5.

With the thinnest of margins, Myrtle Beach skipper Jason Wood turned the ball over to righty reliever Yan for the ninth, and the side-arming former third baseman made the most of his opportunity. Yan threw ten pitches by K-Tribe batters, nine of them strikes, and got Justin Toole, Roberto Perez, and Delvi Cid to go down on swinging, looking, and swinging strikeouts to end the affair. Yan's save (5) made a winner out of Boscan (1-2). Pomeranz (2-2) dropped to .500. Both of his losses this season have come against the Pelicans.

Following Friday night's loss, the Saturday win reinstates Myrtle Beach's four-game advantage over the Indians in the race for the Carolina League Southern Division's first-half title. The Pelicans' victory trimmed their magic number to clinching the crown down to five. Any combination of Myrtle Beach wins and Kinston losses adding up to that total will give the Pelicans their first division title and postseason appearance since 2008.

Sunday's series finale pits Myrtle Beach righty Joe Wieland (5-3, 2.12) against Kinston right-hander Brett Brach (4-4, 3.23) with first pitch scheduled for 1:30. With a victory and a series win, the Pelicans would put their magic number to a division title at three with seven games remaining in the first half after Sunday.

After this six-game road trip, the Pelicans wrap up the Carolina League season's first half with a four-game series against the Frederick Keys from June 16-19 at BB&T Coastal Field. Tickets for all Pelicans home games can be purchased by visiting the BB&T Coastal Field box office, the Tickets page at MyrtleBeachPelicans.com, or by calling (843)918-6000 or (877)918-TIXX.

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Carolina League Stories from June 11, 2011


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