Ninth Inning Errors Too Much to Overcome for RiverDogs on Wednesday

Two errors in the top of the ninth inning hurt the Charleston RiverDogs in an 8-6 loss to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Wednesday night at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park. The RiverDogs fell behind 5-0 in the early going and battled back to take a brief lead in the seventh inning before succumbing late in front of 2,364 fans. The RiverDogs lead over Columbia in the south division standings was trimmed to 3.0 games.

The ninth inning began with the score tied 6-6. Owen Ayers poked a soft groundball toward third for an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Carlos Colmenarez. A walk of Drew Bowser followed, and Dilan Granadillo put down a sacrifice bunt to advance runners to second and third. With the infield in, Christian Olivo grounded toward second and the throw to the plate was too late to nab the lead runner at the plate as Myrtle Beach (22-23, 51-60) took the lead. Another run scored when Adrian Santana dropped a pop up in shallow left field, allowing Bowser to trot home.

The damage came against reliever Luis Hernandez who took his first loss of the season after allowing three runs, two earned, over 1.1 innings. The RiverDogs (30-18, 57-56) put runners in scoring position with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Jhon Diaz struck out looking to end the game.

The Pelicans (22-23, 51-60) wasted no time jumping on RiverDogs starter Jose Urbina in the first inning. The young righthander hit Leonel Espinoza with the second pitch of the game and Ivan Brethowr followed with a single to put men on the corners. Myrtle Beach grabbed the lead when Cam Smith rolled an RBI single back through the middle. Alfonsin Rosario hammered a double into the gap in right center for a 2-0 lead and Jose Escobar blasted a two-run home run in the next at-bat to make it 4-0 right out of the gate.

Urbina was looking for a bounce back inning in the second and induced a double play groundball to assist that cause. However, Espinoza hit a fly ball into the jet stream blowing out to right field and connected or his fourth home run of the campaign.

The RiverDogs (30-18, 57-56) had baserunners early in the game but failed to cash in until the third. In that frame, Smith committed an error on Emilien Pitre’s groundball to open the frame. The next three hitters took advantage with consecutive doubles. Santana’s ground-rule double was the first of the sequence and put two in scoring position. Aidan Smith followed with another two-bagger that put the Dogs on the board and cut the deficit to 5-2. Connor Hujsak’s double deep in the left field corner cut into the Pelicans lead even further by making it 5-3.

The first pitch thrown by Myrtle Beach reliever Luis Rujano in the sixth inning was blasted off the batter’s eye in dead center by Diaz for his ninth home run of the season. Later in the same inning, Colmenarez tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

Smith almost single-handedly put the RiverDogs in front by creating a run in the bottom of seventh. The right fielder opened the stanza with a base hit and promptly stole both second and third. He scored on a tapper back toward the mound by Diaz as the RiverDogs moved in front for the first time at 6-5. The lead was short-lived with Cam Smith tying the game via a solo home run in the top of the eighth.

Urbina was tagged for five runs in 4.0 innings in his home debut with the RiverDogs. Hayden Snelsire lowered his ERA to 2.50 on the season with 3.0 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

Eight of the nine players in the lineup for the RiverDogs finished with at least one hit, including three from Hujsak. Aidan Smith was 2-4 with two RBI and a pair of stolen bases. Cam Smith tallied two hits and two RBI for Myrtle Beach.

Ballpark Fun

Fans lined up early outside the front gates to receive a bobblehead version of slugger Xavier Isaac, one of the top prospects in Minor League Baseball and a member of the RiverDogs 2023 championship team. The bobblehead giveaway completed a set of three that also included bobbleheads of Curtis Mead and Carson Williams.

The series resumes on a Budweiser™ Thirsty Thursday at 7:05 p.m. RHP Gary Gill Hill (4-3, 2.46) will take his turn in the rotation for the RiverDogs against Myrtle Beach RHP Juan Bello (3-4, 2.62).