Shorebirds' Grim delivers career-high six RBIs

With one swing, Gerrion Grim completed a career night and gave his friend and teammate Frank Crinella a memorable birthday gift.
The Orioles prospect clubbed an eighth-inning grand slam to cap a two-homer, six-RBI performance in Class A Delmarva's 10-8 win over Kannapolis on Friday at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

Gameday box score
Grim had already singled in the second and connected on a two-run shot to left-center field in the third when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the eighth. With the Shorebirds trailing, 8-6, the 23-year-old drilled an 0-2 pitch from Kevin Escorcia (2-3).

"[Escorcia] threw me a slider early in the count that I really didn't pick up and he got me down 0-2," he said. "So I was kind of looking for that but a little bit more up. I was lucky enough to get the mistake and put a good swing on it."

Grim ran hard out of the box, unsure if the ball would clear the left field fence. The reaction from the 5,907 fans in the crowd convinced him it did.
"Everyone was amped," the Missouri native said. "The stadium was amped, the crowd was live. It was a great atmosphere. Probably one of the loudest atmospheres I've been in."
The 2014 14th-round pick said delivering a key homer on Crinella's birthday made it even sweeter. The friends have supported each other over the last two seasons with Delmarva. Before Friday's game, they got together to talk as Grim was scuffling with a .208 average through 43 games.
"I was talking to him before the game because in 2016 me and him played together and we were each other's pick-me-ups," Grimm said. "So if one day we weren't feeling it, we would just kind of feed off each other.
"He's the motor of our team and keeps us going with a big personality and stuff. So it's pretty cool to pull a game out like that."
The Jefferson College product bested his previous career high of four RBIs, set on May 3, and turned in his second career multi-homer performance. He said he couldn't recall a better performance since the Orioles selected him in the 14th round of the 2014 Draft.
"In high school, probably in travel ball. Maybe once in [junior college]," Grimm said with a laugh. "So far, this is up there in my top pro ball moments."
Grim upstaged a 5-for-5, three-RBI night by Kannapolis' Jameson Fisher, the 16th-ranked White Sox prospect. Fisher homered in the first before collecting singles in the third, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

"The last two weeks or so, I've been feeling really comfortable against lefties," he said. "[Shorebirds lefty Zach Muckenhirn] gave me some good pitches to hit. The last few games, I hadn't been getting any fastballs over the inner part of the plate, but tonight I got some really good pitches to hit and put some good swings on them."
Fisher became the first Kannapolis player to record a five-hit game since Keenyn Walker on April 12, 2012. Even his opponents on Friday let him know how impressive his night was.
"The other team's second baseman [Crinella] looked at me and was like, '5-for-5, huh? All right,'" Fisher said. "Going 5-for-5, people are excited and they're coming up to you and slapping hands. It's unfortunate we didn't get to pull through with the win, but everyone was chirping about it."
Delmarva reliever Tyler Erwin (1-1) allowed two hits but recorded one out for the win. Steven Klimek recorded the final three outs, fanning two, to earn his second save.