D-Braves split doubleheader to start road trip
August 24, 2014 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Danville Otterbots News Release
DANVILLE, VA - It was a Sunday double dip for the Princeton Rays and the Danville Braves in Princeton, as the two teams resumed action from a suspended game on July 8th. After splitting the doubleheader, the race for first in the East just got a little tighter.
Danville came into the first game already with a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning off of an Omar Obregon sacrifice fly to score Fernelys Sanchez in the third inning. The game continued from after a Tanner Krietemeier single with no outs in the top of the fourth.
The lead did not last long for the D-Braves, as Angel Moreno hit his first home run of the season off of Michael Flores on a drive to left field. The two run shot put the Rays in front 2-1 and that would be all they needed.
Previously, Max Povse had gotten the start for the D-Braves before it had been suspended. The tall righty threw 3.0 shutout innings and allowed just one hit, without walking or striking out any batters. Flores came in on the relief appearance, and pitched well despite the home run. Flores will receive his first loss of the season, after giving up both Princeton runs on one hit, and two walks. Flores struck out five Rays in 4.0 innings as well.
While the first game went all nine innings, the second game was slated for a shorted seven-inning contest. Danville looked to make up for the lost ground from the first game with a strong effort in the second. Andrew Waszak got the call to the bump in the second game, and delivered a win for the D-Braves by the score of 3-2.
Waszak has lost more games than any D-Braves pitcher this season, but not all due to his pitching. Waszak has gone without a lot of run support in his starts that have added to his loss totals, but tonight he got plenty of support from the D-Braves offense and continued his upward trend. Waszak threw 5.0 of the seven innings in the second contest, allowing just one run on two hits and two walks, despite not recording a single strikeout on the evening.
The offense got it going early on, as Ozzy Albies led off the game with a walk. Omar Obregon grounded into a fielder's choice, leaving a runner on first with Appalachian League All-Star third baseman Jordan Edgerton stepping up to the plate. Edgerton would drive a ball to left field and score Obregon to give Danville the 1-0 lead with one out in the first frame. Edgerton finished the game 1-4, the RBI double his only base hit of the game.
Braxton Davidson and Obregon would add two more runs in the top of the sixth. First round pick Davidson stepped to the plate with no out after a Tanner Murphy double and Wigberto Nevarez single left runners on the corners in a 1-0 game. Davidson sent a single to left, scoring Murphy. With two out, Princeton's Damien Carroll walked Obregon with the bases loaded for his 16th RBI of the season and gave Danville a 3-0 edge over the Rays.
Waszak walked both batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth inning, which brought in Kyle Kinman in the game with two on and no out in the sixth. A wild pitch in his first batter faced advanced both runners, leading up to a Riley Unroe grounder to second to score Jose Paez for Princeton's first, and last run of the game. Kinman closed the door on the Rays for his third save of the season in a 3-1 final as the D-Braves split the doubleheader.
The Danville Braves (35-28) and Princeton Rays (35-27) will be back in action tomorrow for game three of four at Hunnicutt Field with the first pitch for tomorrow's contest scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The D-Braves sit just 0.5 games back of the Princeton Rays in the race for first place in the East Division, while the Pulaski Mariners sit 1.0 game out of first and 0.5 back of Danville for the final playoff spot.
Appalachian League Stories from August 24, 2014
- Mariners Drop Series to Twins, 9-2 - Pulaski Mariners
- Pulaski Defeats Burlington, 6-3 - Pulaski Mariners
- Blue Jays rally to defeat Astros, 6-3, with 6-run 9th inning - Greeneville Astros
- D-Braves split doubleheader to start road trip - Danville Otterbots
- Astros split two games with Rays - Greeneville Astros
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