SAL1 Delmarva Shorebirds

Thorburn Lifts 'Birds in Thrilling Asheville Opener

Published on May 4, 2019 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Delmarva Shorebirds News Release


ASHEVILLE, NC - One day after homering for the game's only run, Robbie Thorburn again came up huge for the Delmarva Shorebirds, who pulled out a thrilling 6-5 win over the Asheville Tourists on Friday night at McCormick Field.

With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the eighth, Daniel Fajardo led off with a double to the left field corner, his first extra-base hit of the season. Seamus Curran followed with a groundout to short that moved Fajardo up to third, forcing the infield in. On a 1-1 pitch from Boby Johnson, Thorburn bounced one hard down the line and over the first base bag, headed for the right field corner. Fajardo scored the go-ahead run, and Thorburn dove headfirst into second with a go-ahead double, putting the Shorebirds (21-4) back up 6-5.

Nick Gruener came on in relief and sat the Tourists (10-17) down on just five pitches in the eighth before turning it over to Tim Naughton for the bottom of the ninth. Daniel Montano led off the ninth with a bloop single. After a strikeout, Montano tested the arm of the catcher Fajardo and stole second base, moving the tying run into scoring position. Kyle Datres then walked on four pitches to put the winning run on base.

Naughton calmly struck out Cade Harris for the second out. With the runners going on a 1-2 count to Terrin Vavra, Naughton glided an offspeed pitch to the outer edge of the plate for called strike three, putting the game on ice and giving the Shorebirds their fourth straight win to start the road trip.

Tyler Joyner (5-0) earned his league-leading fifth win in relief for the Shorebirds, allowing three runs on three hits in 3.1 innings, walking one and striking out five. Johnson (0-1) took the loss for the Tourists after allowing Thorburn's go-ahead double in the eighth. Naughton's save was his SAL-leading sixth of the year.

In a back-and-forth affair that saw the lead change hands three times, Delmarva drew first blood in the first inning. Doran Turchin reached on a one-out error at short and promptly stole second base. Two batters later, Ryne Ogren slashed a hard grounder down the first base line for a single, scoring Turchin to put the Shorebirds up 1-0.

Asheville made their move in the second against Delmarva starter Grayson Rodriguez, who pitched for the first time in 15 days after having his last start skipped for innings preservation. Willie MacIver led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch. Danny Edgeworth followed with a base hit of his own to move MacIver to third, and Montano singled to score MacIver with the tying run. A passed ball let the runners take second and third, then Johnny Cresto hit one to short to chase Edgeworth home to make it 2-1.

Instead of getting Cresto at first, though, Shorebird shortstop Cadyn Grenier threw to third base and got Montano out instead. Datres followed with a flyout to center; if not for Grenier's heads-up play it would have likely become a sac fly to score Montano. Instead, Rodriguez struck out Harris and got through the inning with minimal damage.

Rodriguez only pitched 3.2 innings in a no-decision, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with one walk and five strikeouts on 75 pitches.

Curran fought off an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk in the fifth, and Thorburn followed with a moonshot to right center that easily cleared the 42-foot wall for a two-run homer, putting the Shorebirds on top 3-2. In the sixth, Ben Breazeale led off with a single, and Nick Horvath pounded a two-run big fly to left, his first of the season, building the lead to 5-2. Delmarva would eventually load the bases in the sixth but leave them loaded, keeping the door open a crack for Asheville.

The Tourists came barging through in the seventh. Montano walked to lead off, and Cresto banged a double off the base of the wall in center to put men on second and third. After a strikeout, Harris attacked a 2-2 hanger and crushed one over the right center wall for a three-run homer, tying the game at 5-5 and setting up Delmarva's answer in the eighth.

Thorburn clocked in his third straight multi-hit game, going 3-for-4 with the go-ahead double, homer, and two RBIs. In his last three games Thorburn is 7-for-12 with three extra-base hits and five RBIs.

The bottom five in the order did the most damage for the Tourists, pounding out seven of their nine hits and driving in all five runs. Edgeworth and Montano each had two hits.

Asheville starter Shelby Lackey couldn't repeat his dominance against the Shorebirds from last week, surrendering five runs (four earned) on seven hits in five-plus innings in a no-decision.

With Hickory's loss at Kannapolis, the Shorebirds are now three games up in the SAL Northern Division, matching their largest division lead of the season. Third-place West Virginia also lost at Greensboro, falling 4.5 games back.

The Shorebirds go for five in a row on the road on Saturday night against the Tourists. Gray Fenter (1-1, 2.04) gets the nod for Delmarva, with Drew Rom likely to follow, against Asheville's Colten Schmidt (0-0, 4.50). First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m., and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 5:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.

Check out the Delmarva Shorebirds Statistics

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 4, 2019


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