Hagerstown, MD - The Hagerstown Suns rallied late behind Yasel Antuna's ninth-inning grand slam to beat the Lexington Legends 9-7 on Friday night at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. The Suns improve to 4-11 and will play the third game of a four-game series against Lexington on Saturday with a 6:35 PM
Hagerstown, MD - The Hagerstown Suns rallied late behind Yasel Antuna's ninth-inning grand slam to beat the Lexington Legends 9-7 on Friday night at Whitaker Bank Ballpark. The Suns improve to 4-11 and will play the third game of a four-game series against Lexington on Saturday with a 6:35 PM first pitch.
Hagerstown started the scoring in the first inning against Legends starter Daniel Tillo. Cole Freeman led off the game with a walk for the second straight day. He stole second and went to third when Luis Garcia grounded out to first base. Yasel Antuna grounded out to short stop, but the ground ball pushed Freeman across the plate to give the Suns a 1-0 lead.
Lexington tied the game in the bottom of the first against Jackson Stoeckinger. With one out, Marten Gasparini singled to left and Nick Pratto grounded into a fielder's choice that retired Gasparini. MJ Melendez doubled to left field to score Pratto from first and tie the game, 1-1.
The Legends extended their lead in the third against Stoeckinger. Travis Jones was hit by a pitch and with one out scored when Pratto doubled to left field to give the Legends a 2-1 lead. With two outs, Dennicher Carrasco launched his third homer of the season, driving in Pratto and making it a 4-1 lead.
The Legends extended their lead in the sixth against Suns reliever Sam Held. Held hit Carrasco who went to second on an errant pickoff throw, and with two outs Sebastian Rivero singled to left, scoring Carrasco to give Lexington a 5-1 lead.
Tillo had a no-hitter through six for Lexington, but the Suns offense broke through in the seventh. With one out, Kameron Esthay doubled to center and Branden Boggetto doubled to score Esthay and make it a 5-2 ballgame.
The Suns piled on to tie the game in the eighth against Legends reliever Julio Pinto. Freeman led off the inning with a triple and scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-3 game. Garcia walked and Antuna doubled to right, putting runners at second and third. Anderson Franco drove in Garcia with a sacrifice fly, and Esthay doubled off the wall in right to plate Antuna to tie the game 5-5.
Lexington took the lead back in the bottom of the eighth against Held. With one out, Vance Vizcaino slugged his first homer of the season, a ball to left field, to give the Legends a 6-5 advantage. The homer was the first long ball allowed by Held after joining the Suns on April 13.
The Suns offense erupted in the ninth with Sal Biasi toeing the rubber for Lexington. Nic Perkins singled to center and Armond Upshaw walked. With one out, Garcia walked to load the bases and on the second pitch of his at-bat, Antuna drove his first home run of the season over the left field wall. The grand slam gave Hagerstown a 9-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Lexington brought home a run in the ninth, with Vizcaino drawing a bases-loaded walk to score Gasparini and make it a 9-7 game. Jeison Guzman flew out to right field to end the game, with the Suns picking up their fourth win of the season.
Stoeckinger received a no decision after throwing five innings with four runs on six hits and four strikeouts. Held (1-0) earned the win, going 3.1 innings in relief while allowing three runs on two hits with a strikeout. Jared Brasher earned a save (1) over 0.2 innings of work with a walk and a strikeout.
Notes: Antuna's grand slam was the first by a Suns player since Nick Banks hit one against Lexington on July 16 last season… He had a career-high five RBIs in the game… He also had his fourth multi-hit game and his second multi-RBI game of the season… It was the Suns second win after trailing through eight innings… Freeman, Garcia, and Antuna all scored two runs… Hagerstown tied their season-low by leaving five runners on base… Soto wasn't in the lineup for the first time this season… Antuna was the first Suns player other than Soto to bat third in the order this season… Perkins made his first start of the year after being added to the roster on Thursday… Stoeckinger's five innings is the longest outing of his career… Perkins single in the ninth was his first hit with the Suns… Five players were hit by pitches in the game, with one of them being a Suns hitter… The Suns play the third game in a four-game series with the Lexington Legends on Saturday at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington with a 6:35 PM first pitch…
Hagerstown will send RHP Carlos Acevedo (0-1, 12.86 ERA) to the mound against Lexington RHP Andres Sotillet (0-1, 1.93 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:20 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia and "Listen Live" which also has downloads for a free app on the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android… The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio App.
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