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CarL Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Pelicans Edge out Red Sox 6-5 for Third-Straight Win

May 26, 2021 - Carolina League (CarL)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


The Pelicans won their third-straight game and have now taken the first two games against Salem with a 6-5 victory on Wednesday night. The Birds have battled their way back to the .500 mark at 10-10, while the Red Sox slip to 11-9.

In both games of this series, the Pelicans have racked up double-digit hits, with 12 more coming tonight. Jonathan Sierra (2-3, 3 RBI) led the hot-hitting lineup while Edmond Americaan (2-5, 3 B, R) and Pablo Aliendo (2-4, 2 R) also contributed to the effort with multi-hit games. As a team, Myrtle Beach is now hitting over the .200 mark at .202 after a slow start to the season.

Carlos Ocampo (2-0) earned his second win of the series after throwing 1.2 innings in relief with one earned run off three hits. Pelicans' starter DJ Herz was masterful once again after pitching just under four innings, with no hits allowed and five strikeouts. Scott Kobos threw the final inning facing three batters and striking out two to pick up his second save of the season.

Salem showed three pitchers with each giving up at least one earned run. The loss went to Brandon Walter (0-1) who pitched the final two innings of the game and gave up the decisive two runs in the eighth off three hits.

After being held hitless into the seventh inning, the Red Sox only were able to muster up four hits on the night. Gilberto Jimenez (1-5, 2 RBI) and Ceddanne Rafaela (1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R) gave Salem a chance with four runs batted in between the two.

For the third game in a row and the fourth game in the last five, Myrtle Beach started the game with a run in the opening frame. This time, Americaan led off with a single to extend his hitting streak to four-straight games but was picked off trying to steal second base. With two outs in the inning, Yohendrick Pinango singled to right field to move his hitting streak to a team-best seven games. Matt Mervis hit a single up the middle to put two runners on, and manager Buddy Bailey put the double-steal on as both runners moved into scoring position. Pinango came home to score after a passed ball by catcher Jaxx Groshans and the Pelicans went up 1-0 after the first.

While Herz was dealing on the mound, Myrtle Beach put up more support with two runs in the top of the fourth. Mervis drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Shane Drohan. Aliendo hit a bloop single to shallow left to move Mervis to third, and he came home after Sierra knocked a base hit to right field with Aliendo moving to third. After Flemin Bautista flew out, Drohan threw another wild pitch that allowed Aliendo to cross the plate and extend the Birds' lead to 3-0.

One more run came in the fifth for the Pelicans with Americaan hitting his first triple of the season with one out and later came home to score on a Fabian Pertuz groundout with Myrtle Beach now leading 4-0.

Still without a hit, the Red Sox put together some offense in their half of the sixth courtesy of a few Pelicans' mistakes. Rafaela led off the inning by reaching base on a throwing error from shortstop Reivaj Garcia, and Dean Miller got on base courtesy of a fielding error by Raymond Pena in left field which allowed Rafaela to get to third and Miller to second. Jimenez came up and again reached base on an error, this time off the hands of Bautista for the Pelicans which scored Rafaela for the Red Sox first run of the game. Matthew Lugo reached base on a fielder's choice with a ground ball up the middle, but pitcher Joe Nahas turned toward home and threw out Miller trying to score the second run.

Salem's first hit of the game came in the seventh inning which later led to a rally. After the first two batters reached base, Rafaela doubled to right field off Nahas to score Nicholas Northcut and Wil Dalton and make it a 4-3 game. Ocampo came out of the bullpen to replace Nahas, and after getting the second out of the inning, Jimenez singled through the hole at shortstop to plate Rafaela and tie the game up at four.

As seen before in the past, the Pelicans battled back in their half of the eighth inning to take the lead. Walter came into the game to pitch for the Red Sox and gave up a one-out single to Pinango to put a runner on. After Mervis flew out for the second out, Aliendo collected his second hit of the game with a single to left field to put two runners on. Sierra came up and lined a ball up the middle for a single that scored both Pinango and Aliendo and put Myrtle Beach back in front 6-4.

Salem responded quickly in the bottom of the eighth with Groshans doubling to start the inning. After two straight groundouts, Nick Yorke singled to left field to score Groshans and get the Red Sox closer at 6-5. Yorke stole second but was stranded in scoring position after Dalton struck out to end the inning. Both teams stayed quiet in the ninth and Kobos struck out two of the three batters he faced to rack up the save.

The Pelicans and Red Sox will meet again for the third game tomorrow night with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m.

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Carolina League Stories from May 26, 2021


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