Bright shines, Burns torches in tough series against Crawdads

By: Michael Marcantonini

The Aberdeen IronBirds were swept in a six-game home series by the Hickory Crawdads this past Tuesday through Sunday, August 1-6. The IronBirds were outscored 53-18 in the series but three of the losses were by three runs or less. The IronBirds sit at 49-50 overall and 17-18 in the second half.

The IronBirds led 2-0 after two innings in Game 1, but they didn’t score again as Hickory edged out a 5-2 win. Juan Nunez pitched four innings of one-run ball in relief with five strikeouts. Dylan Beavers went 2-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases and was promoted to Double-A Bowie after the game. Beavers hit .343 with a 1.023 OPS in his final 40 games with the Birds before the promotion. The Crawdads took advantage of an early error, scored five runs in the first inning, and never looked back in their 6-3 Game 2 win. The Birds collected just two hits, and none after the fourth inning. Cameron Weston gave up just one run with five strikeouts in four innings and Ryan Hennen struck out the side in order on 11 pitches in his one inning of work.

Hickory’s bats stayed hot in Game 3 with a 15-2 win. The Crawdads didn’t score until the fourth inning but pounded out 12 hits and two separate five-run innings in the blowout. Trace Bright shined for the Birds in his first appearance of August. Bright tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts in four innings on just two hits and one run and passed the 100-strikeout mark on the season. Collin Burns went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, his first of the season. The IronBirds erased an early deficit in Game 4 and went up 5-4 after four innings, but the Crawdads answered with three late runs to win, 7-5. Elio Prado and Maxwell Costes each had two hits and scored a run, while Logan Rinehart pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts in his Orioles organization debut.

Game 5 was another tough one for the IronBirds as the Crawdads kept their streak going with a 12-5 win. Hickory plated five runs in the second inning and scored at least one run in six of their nine trips to the plate. Burns added two more hits, including a double, and two more RBI, to extend both his hitting and RBI streaks to five games. Frederick Bencosme collected two hits as well. Aberdeen aimed to end its losing streak in the Sunday series finale, but Hickory scored early and never trailed in its 7-1 win. Tim Susnara hit a solo homer for the Birds’ lone run of the game, Prado picked up two more hits and a walk, and Burns extended his hitting streak to six games. Jake Lyons pitched two and two-thirds scoreless innings in relief, his longest outing since coming off the injured list in late July.

The IronBirds are back on the road this week for six games against the Brooklyn Cyclones on Coney Island from Tuesday through Sunday, August 8-13. The IronBirds return to Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium on Tuesday, August 15 to open a six-game series with the Wilmington Blue Rocks in their second-to-last homestand of the season. Head over to ironbirdsbaseball.com to purchase tickets and for more information on upcoming promotions and events.