Santander Hits Inside-the-Park Home Run in Woodpeckers’ Loss to GreenJackets
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – Juan Santander hit an inside-the-park home run that fueled a rally for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (39-48, 10-11) Sunday evening at SRP Park. However, the Augusta GreenJackets (36-49, 9-11) reclaimed the lead for good in the late innings to take a 5-3 win from the Woodpeckers, securing
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC – Juan Santander hit an inside-the-park home run that fueled a rally for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (39-48, 10-11) Sunday evening at SRP Park. However, the Augusta GreenJackets (36-49, 9-11) reclaimed the lead for good in the late innings to take a 5-3 win from the Woodpeckers, securing a split in the six-game series.
Fayetteville fell behind 3-0 early in the series finale. Kade Kern kicked off the scoring for Augusta with an RBI double in the first off starter Raimy Rodriguez. The GreenJackets added two more in the second thanks to a run-scoring single by Robert Gonzalez and an RBI fielder’s choice from Leiker Figueroa. Rodriguez settled in after the rocky start, going four innings and allowing two earned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out one.
After Augusta starter Anthony Garcia shut down the Woodpeckers’ lineup over the opening four frames, up came Santander to lead off the fifth. The righty lifted a deep fly ball and GreenJackets center fielder Isaiah Drake stumbled while tracking it. The ball came down and hit off Drake’s head and rolled several feet away into left center.
By the time the defense tracked it down, Santander was rounding third and heading home. The throw to the plate found the mitt of catcher Harry Owen, but he could not hold on and Santander was credited with his sixth home run of the season. It was the first Fayetteville inside-the-park since Roilan Machandy recorded one at Segra Stadium on July 1 last season against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers.
The Woodpeckers weren’t done in the fifth after the thrilling play. Jancel Villarroel later brought home Alberto Hernandez on a groundout to make it 3-2. The following inning, Cesar Hernandez scored on a wild pitch from Giomar Diaz (W, 1-4) to tie the score.
Following Rodriguez’s outing, Alonzo Tredwell came on in relief but was pulled due to an injury while facing his second batter. Fayetteville was forced to scramble and bring Amilcar Chirinos (L, 5-3) in to pitch on short notice. Chirinos kept Augusta off the board until the bottom of the eighth when Joe Olsavsky singled in the go-ahead run. Gonzalez then drove in an insurance run on another RBI groundout. GreenJackets reliever Albert Rivas (SV, 1) took over in the ninth and quickly shut the door for the home team.
The Woodpeckers will now be off for the next four days during the Major League Baseball All-Star break before they play a three-game series at Segra Stadium against the Charleston RiverDogs beginning on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.