RiverDogs Reach Win Column with 7-5 Victory over Pelicans
The Charleston RiverDogs earned their first win in a road series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with a 7-5 victory on Friday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The RiverDogs hit four doubles in the first three innings of the game. Chandler Simpson finished the night 3-4 with a stolen base, a
The Charleston RiverDogs earned their first win in a road series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with a 7-5 victory on Friday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The RiverDogs hit four doubles in the first three innings of the game. Chandler Simpson finished the night 3-4 with a stolen base, a walk and two runs scored.
The RiverDogs (3-3, 30-42) used the quartet of extra-base hits against Marino Santy to take an early advantage. Simpson began the game by working a four-pitch walk, went to second on an errant pick-off throw and stole third base. Xavier Isaac and Ryan Spikes followed with consecutive RBI doubles to give the RiverDogs a 2-0 lead.
Doubles in the second and third innings allowed the RiverDogs to build a larger margin. Jhon Diaz opened the second frame with a two-bagger and scored on Julio Meza’s groundball single into left field made it 3-0. In the fourth, Spikes collected his second double to start the attack. He moved to third base on a groundout and scored on Enderson Delgado’s shallow fly ball to right field when Rafael Morel threw wildly toward home plate.
Myrtle Beach (3-3, 42-29) did not have a hit when Ismael Mena came to the plate in the bottom of the third with two outs. That changed as the center fielder hammered a line drive over the right field wall for his first home run of the season.
Each team scored in the fifth inning, with Myrtle Beach pulling closer in the end. The RiverDogs loaded the bases with one out, courtesy of three straight walks by reliever Angel Hernandez. Christopher Barete pushed the lead back to four with a run-scoring groundout to the first baseman. The Pelicans did one better in the bottom half, pulling within 5-3 on a sacrifice fly from David Avitia and a run-scoring wild pitch.
As they had done multiple times already, the RiverDogs found a way to push the margin back to four. Simpson opened the sixth with a single through the left side and advanced to second on a groundout by Cooper Kinney. Isaac’s high fly ball to left field was dropped by Parker Chavers, allowing runners to advance to second and third with one out. Spikes drove in one with a sacrifice fly to left and a second run scored on a two-out RBI single from Odalys Peguero.
The Pelicans scored the final two runs of the night in the final two innings against Juan Rodriguez. The Pelicans had the tying run at the plate in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Jefferson Rojas bounced into a game-ending double play.
Starting pitcher Trevor Martin earned the win by tossing 5.2 innings and allowing three runs on four hits. He struck out four. Jack Hartman followed in relief, keeping the Pelicans off the board for 1.1 innings. Rodriguez allowed one run in each of his 2.0 innings on the hill, but finished the game in a non-save situation.
Joining Simpson with multiple hits was Spikes, who finished 2-4 with a pair of doubles and two RBI. Myrtle Beach received three hits from Morel and two from Cristian Hernandez.
The series resumes with the fourth installment between the two rivals on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. RHP Marcus Johnson (1-3, 3.74) will be on the hill first for the RiverDogs. Myrtle Beach will counter with RHP Nick Hull (3-2, 4.18).