Nats Winning Streak Halted at Eight Games

FREDERICKSBURG, VA - The Fredericksburg winning streak died at eight games, in a 7-3 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds.

The Nationals struck first on Friday night, in the bottom of the second inning. Murphy Stehly lined the first pitch of the frame back up the middle for a double, then later stole third base as Armando Cruz drew a walk. Cruz then stole second himself, and Stehly came home on a throwing error. Wilmer Perez then notched his first RBI with Fredericksburg on a booming double to drive Cruz in to make it 2-0. A wild pitch allowed Perez to reach third base, setting him up to score on a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 Nationals lead.

Bryan Caceres held that lead until the top of the 5th inning. But with one out, Victor Gonzalez and Elio Prado both got hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Carter Young then smoked a ground ball up the middle that was misplayed by Armando Cruz, and Gonzalez scored on the play. After a pitching change, Samuel Basallo tied the game with a line drive single to right field off of Sean Doolittle. The inning continued with an Isaac Bellony single to push Basallo across, as Delmarva pulled ahead 4-3.

Samuel Basallo added a solo home run in the top of the seventh to make it a 5-3 lead, before Delmarva added a run in the eighth and ninth innings en route to a 7-3 win. Sean Doolittle took the loss for the FredNats, with Wyatt Cheney taking the win. In the penultimate game of the series, Luke Young takes on Juan De Los Santos.