Curran Powers 'Birds to Sixth Straight
June 28, 2019 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release
HAGERSTOWN, MD - The Delmarva Shorebirds muscled their way to their sixth straight win, downing the Hagerstown Suns 5-3 on Friday at Municipal Stadium.
Hector (5-3) battled over five innings for the Shorebirds (8-1, 56-22), allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Tomas Alastre (3-8) finally saw his luck against Delmarva run out for the Suns (2-7, 32-47), giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits over five frames. Matt De La Rosa converted his league-best seventh hold with two scoreless out of the bullpen, and Felix Bautista nailed down his first save with a scoreless eighth and ninth.
Just like they did the day before, the Shorebirds grabbed an instant lead in the first inning. Robert Neustrom chipped a one-out single, then two batters later Jean Carlos Encarnacion smoked a 106 mph line drive to the left center gap for a double, scoring Neustrom to make it 1-0.
Delmarva tacked on a pair in the second as Nick Horvath walked and Seamus Curran clubbed a two-run homer to right, his 12th of the season, to push the Shorebird lead to 3-0.
The Suns got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second as Kyle Marinconz worked a two-out single and Nic Perkins doubled him home. The teams traded a run each in the third inning; Nick Horvath plated one on a sac fly for Delmarva, while Jacob Rhinesmith grounded into a run-scoring double play for Hagerstown, making it 4-2 Shorebirds.
In the bottom of the fifth, Cole Daily worked a one-out walk, stole second base, and took third on a wild pitch. Armond Upshaw then brought him home with an RBI groundout, cutting the Suns' deficit to 4-3. Justin Connell followed with a two-out single and Rhinesmith walked to put two on, but Guance punched out Gilbert Lara swinging to get through the fifth with minimal damage.
The Shorebirds reinforced their lead in the top of the eighth. Horvath hit a routine grounder to short that Jackson Cluff threw away, putting Horvath at second base. After a groundout moved the runner up to third, Curran poked a single into third, scoring Horvath to give the game its final margin.
Hagerstown threatened to spoil the party in the bottom of the ninth. Marinconz led off with a single, then two batters later Daily walked. After a strikeout, Connell hit a tough grounder to third for an infield hit, loading the bases. Bautista clamped down from there, though, striking out Rhinesmith to put it to bed.
Curran finished 1-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs to pace the Shorebird attack, while Encarnacion finished 2-for-5 with a double, run, and RBI. Curran and Encarnacion each have five hits and have combined for six RBIs in the first two games of the series.
Connell notched four singles for the Suns, going 4-for-5. Marinconz finished 2-for-4 with a run.
The six-gamer is now the third-longest winning streak for the Shorebirds this season. Delmarva won 10 in a row from April 8-18 and took seven in a row from April 30-May 6.
The Shorebirds look for lucky seven against the Suns on Saturday night. Nick Vespi (4-4, 3.72) aims to finish his dandy of a month strong for Delmarva against Hagerstown's Reid Schaller (0-0, 8.10). First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. from Municipal Stadium, and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 5:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.
South Atlantic League Stories from June 28, 2019
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