CarL Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Woodpeckers' Go-Ahead Grand Slam Downs Pelicans in Series Finale

Published on August 22, 2021 under Carolina League (CarL)
Myrtle Beach Pelicans News Release


Going into the bottom of the eighth inning up 7-5, Adonis Giron hit the first grand slam for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers this season and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans fell in the series finale 9-7 on Sunday afternoon. It was the second comeback of the game for Fayetteville, as Myrtle Beach led by as many as four runs before the Woodpeckers tied it 5-5 in the seventh. The loss is the third straight for the Pelicans, who fell to 47-49. The Woodpeckers move up to 43-52 and took four of the six games in the series.

The visiting lineup collected eight hits for the game as Ed Howard (2-2, 2B, 2 RBI) led the Pelicans with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. Ezequiel Pagan (1-4, 2B, 2 RBI) also brought home two runs with a double in the opening frame. Myrtle Beach catcher Casey Opitz (2-4, 2 R) also tallied the first two hits of his Pelicans' tenure.

Daniel Palencia started the game for the Pelicans and tossed a career-high 4 1/3 innings of hitless baseball with five strikeouts. He gave up two earned runs while walking four. Jarod Wright followed him out of the bullpen and gave up three earned runs on a game-tying home run in the bottom of the seventh. After sacrificing the grand slam, Gabriel Jaramillo (4-2) blew the save and took the loss.

Two home runs powered the Woodpeckers as Giron (1-2, HR, 4 RBI) blasted the go-ahead grand slam and Chad Stevens (2-4, HR, 2B, 5 RBI) brought home five runs including a three-run shot that tied the game 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh. The bottom two hitters in the lineup accounted for all the runs by Fayetteville.

Aaron Brown (1-0) picked up his first career win in Low-A with four innings in relief, giving up four hits, three runs, and one earned run. He struck out three and didn't walk any. Jose Betances came out and retired the Pelicans in order in the final inning to take his third save of the year.

Myrtle Beach got off to a quick start in the top of the second as Opitz led off with an infield single to second base. Fabian Pertuz followed by reaching base on a fielding error by Woodpeckers' shortstop Cristian Gonzalez. The bases-loaded up after Howard was hit by a pitch from Fayetteville starter Elvis Garcia. Pagan stepped up and smashed a double to deep center field to score two runs with nobody out. Josue Huma added on to that with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Howard. After Pagan moved up to third on a wild pitch, Yohendrick Pinango hit a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 4-0 lead.

The Woodpeckers first reached the scoreboard with a two-run bottom of the fifth. Nerio Rodriguez walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on a passed ball on Opitz. Palencia walked Giron to put runners on first and second and was taken out of the game for Wright. On Wright's first pitch, Stevens doubled into the corner in left to score two runs and make it a 4-2 game.

The Pelicans grabbed one run back in the top of the sixth as Opitz hit a single with one out. He moved to second on a groundout by Pertuz and scored on Howard's groundball single up the middle to give the Birds a 5-2 advantage.

The lead was wiped away with one swing of the bat as Wright walked Nathan Perry and Giron to put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the seventh. With a 2-0 count, Stevens lined a ball over the left-field wall for a three-run homer to tie the game 5-5. It was his first of the year.

As quickly as the lead faded, the Pelicans went right back up in the top of the eight with Jonathan Sierra leading off by reaching on another fielding error by Gonzalez at short. Jacob Wetzel followed with a sacrifice bunt to the left side that was picked up by Brown and thrown wildly over to first to move Sierra to third as Wetzel reached. The Woodpeckers committed their third error of the inning on Opitz's ground ball to second as Sierra scored. Stevens flipped to a covering Gonzalez at second, but the ball was dropped as Wetzel was safe. The bases loaded on a single by Pertuz in the next at-bat. Howard came up and lifted the first pitch to left field for a sacrifice fly as Wetzel scored to make it a 7-5 Pelicans lead.

Jaramillo came out of the bullpen to face the Woodpeckers in the bottom of the eighth. After getting the first batter to pop out, Quincy Hamilton and Rodriguez hit back-to-back singles. Perry was hit by a pitch to load the bases. On Jaramillo's 1-1 pitch, Giron lined a grand slam barely over the left-field wall to give Fayetteville their first lead at 9-7. It was his second homer of the season while being the first home run given up by Jaramillo this year.

Myrtle Beach was retired in order to end the game.

The Pelicans return home for their second two-week homestand of the season, with the first being a six-game set with the Columbia Fireflies. Game one starts on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

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Carolina League Stories from August 22, 2021


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