Late Comeback Falls Short in 6-5 Loss
April 23, 2016 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Carolina Mudcats News Release
MYRTLE BEACH, SC - Carolina rallied back from a five run deficit to get within one in the ninth, but closer David Berg eventually finished the inning while saving a 6-5 victory for the Pelicans against the Mudcats at TicketReturn.Com Field on Saturday night.
Braxton Davidson and Joseph Odom both had run scoring doubles in the Carolina ninth, but the four run and three hit rally fell short as Carolina (7-10) lost game three of the four game set by just one.
The Pelicans (9-8) scored twice in the second, twice in the third and two more times in the fifth against Carolina's starter Ryan Lawlor. Jeffrey Baez brought in the second run in the second with a RBI triple and Yasiel Balaguert brought in the first run in the third with a ground rule double. Ian Happ added a two-run home in the fifth and the Pelicans led 6-0 after five against Lawlor (1-1, 5.09) and the Mudcats.
Lawlor allowed six runs and six hits over five innings and took the loss. He also struck out six and walked three while going through the fifth with 88 pitches in the game.
Jake Stinnett started for the Pelicans and managed to keep the Mudcats scoreless until the sixth when Joey Meneses doubled and scored on Stephen Gaylor's first RBI hit of the season.
Stinnett (2-0, 2.55) pitched into the seventh and allowed just one run and on three hits over six and 2/3 innings. The Mudcats struck out seven times against Stinnett and scored just once. Left-hander Jordan Minch followed Stinnett and struck out Davidson to end the seventh inning.
Minch stayed in for part of the eighth, but left with bases loaded and with two outs in the inning. Berg (S, 3) then entered the game and managed to finish the inning without allowing any of his inherited runners to score.
Omar Obregon hit into a force out to end the Carolina eighth and was 0-for-4 in the loss. Obregon's 13 game hitting streak came to end Saturday as he was held without a hit for the first time since April 9.
Berg stayed in for the ninth and saw Dansby Swanson start the four run inning by reaching on an error. Jordan Edgerton then followed with a hard single to center and Davidson came up with a double to score Swanson. Both Edgerton and Davidson scored moments later on a double by Odom and the Mudcats cut the lead to 6-4. Meneses then pushed Odom to third with a fly out to right and Joseph Daris brought him in with a groundout to second to cut it to 6-5. Berg eventually got out of the ninth, and finished the game, by getting Reed Harper to ground out with the bases empty.
Berg allowed four runs (two earned) in the ninth on three hits while earning his third save of the season. He had not allowed a run over his previous three appearances before Saturday's ninth inning.
The Mudcats trail two games to one in the series and will play the finale of the four game set on Sunday evening with the first pitch scheduled for 5:05 p.m. in Myrtle Beach. The Mudcats will start RHP Matt Withrow (0-0, 0.00) in the series finale. The Pelicans, meanwhile, will start LHP Tommy Thorpe (1-0, 3.27).
Carolina League Stories from April 23, 2016
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