Shorebirds Pinched Late by BlueClaws
Published on May 20, 2015 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release
SALISBURY, Md. -- The Delmarva Shorebirds ran into trouble holding leads against the Lakewood BlueClaws Wednesday morning, resulting in a 6-5 loss at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
With victories the previous two nights, the Shorebirds clinched their eighth series win of the season, but they still remain without a series sweep in 2015.
As they did in every game in this series, the Shorebirds jumped out to an early lead thanks to timely hitting from the top of the order. After Jay Gonzalez and Steve Wilkerson led off the bottom of the first with singles, Conor Bierfeld delivered a two-run triple to put Delmarva ahead. Bierfeldt now has 36 RBIs on the season, the most in the South Atlantic League.
Bierfeldt then scored the third run of the opening frame when he scampered home on a dropped pop-up by BlueClaws shortstop Malquin Canelo.
Lakewood fought back by scoring one run in the second and two in the third off of Shorebirds starter Matthew Grimes. Grimes finished the game going 5.1 innings while allowing three earned runs on four hits and striking out two.
Delmarva then took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth when Elier Leyva hit his first home run of the season, as his two-run shot put the Shorebirds up 5-3.
Grimes and Garrett Cortright kept the lead safe on the mound, but Lakewood had a breakthrough in the top of the eighth. A Damek Tomscha double and a Jose Mayorga sacrifice fly off of Derrick Bleeker gave the BlueClaws their first lead of the day. The Shorebirds got the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, but the BlueClaws snuffed out any late rallies.
Donnie Hart appeared in the ninth inning for Delmarva, throwing 0.2 innings of scoreless ball to bring his scoreless streak to 11.1 innings to start the season.
Delmarva now hits the road for a seven-game road trip that will begin with a four-game series with the West Virginia Power. Sebastian Vader (1-2, 3.13) will get the start for the Shorebirds on Thursday opposite Colten Brewer (0-1, 4.50). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
South Atlantic League Stories from May 20, 2015
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