Fayetteville Outduels Augusta to Even Series
Published on April 20, 2022 under Carolina League (CarL)
Augusta GreenJackets News Release
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: After a comeback win in the home opener on Tuesday Night, The Augusta GreenJackets (5-6) came out on the wrong end of a high-level pitching matchup on Wednesday against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (3-8), 3-1.
Royber Salinas made his SRP Park debut after a pair of dominant starts on the road and his offense spotted him an early lead in the first as Stephen Paolini dropped a two-out single into centerfield to score Geraldo Quintero making it 1-0 Augusta after an inning.
That lead would only stand for the moment as the Woodpeckers evened the score in the top of the second after a leadoff error put Joey Loperfido at third base. He would later score a double-play ball to tie the game.
The game would remain deadlocked at one all the way until the sixth as Salinas and Fayetteville starting pitcher Carlos Calderon matched each other pitch-for-pitch. The Woodpeckers would get a pair of runs off Royber Salinas in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Cody Orr and a fielder's choice to end his night after 5.1 innings where he struck out 7 with 4 walks.
After taking the lead, Fayetteville turned to Ernesto Jaquez in the bottom half of the sixth and the GreenJackets best opportunity to score against him was in his first inning of work when they loaded the bases with two out but Jaquez struck out Antonio Barranca to turn back the threat.
The Woodpeckers' reliever was electric the rest of the night out of the bullpen as he retired 9 of the next 10 batters he faced and finished the game with 10 strikeouts in 4 innings to earn the save.
Carlos Calderon earned the win for Fayetteville as Royber Salinas suffered the loss for Augusta.
Brandol Mezquita extended his current hit-streak to six games with a hit in the sixth inning and Stephen Paolini made it three consecutive games with an RBI with his run-producing hit in the first inning for the highlights of Augusta's offense.
Juan Mateo tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief of Salinas and Peyton Williams dealt two scoreless frames with 3 strikeouts to cap off the night of pitching for the GreenJackets.
Game 3 of the series comes from SRP Park on Thursday night as a pair of top prospects in their respective organizations take the mound. Alex Santos, the 10th ranked prospect for the Astros faces AJ Smith-Shawver, the No. 17 prospect for the Braves, both rankings are according to MLB Pipeline. First pitch of Game 3 comes at 7:05 p.m.
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