Clark and the Wood Ducks Clip the Nats
KINSTON, NC - A three-hit night for Ledarious Clark was highlighted by a two-run home run that was the difference in a 3-2 win for the Wood Ducks over the Nationals on Friday night. Woodies starter Richelson Pena also set a new career-high in strikeouts with nine in his six
KINSTON, NC - A three-hit night for Ledarious Clark was highlighted by a two-run home run that was the difference in a 3-2 win for the Wood Ducks over the Nationals on Friday night. Woodies starter Richelson Pena also set a new career-high in strikeouts with nine in his six and two-thirds innings of work without a walk.
However in the second inning, the game started in a different direction for Down East. Winds were gusting out to center field all night and Carolina League home run leader Taylor Gushue took advantage for Potomac. He ripped a solo homer to center in the second to put the Nationals up 1-0.
The Woodies would leave a runner on base in three of the first four innings trying to respond to the run. Luis Reyes kept the bats at bay until a two-out rally formed on a Josh Morgan single. During Chuck Moorman's at-bat, a passed ball slipped by Gushue and allowed Morgan down to second.
Two pitches later, Moorman ripped a double down the left field line to allow Morgan to score and tie the game at one. Pena was returning the favor on the mound, leaving a runner stranded in three consecutive innings before the fifth.
Josh Altmann led off with an infield single to the left side in the bottom of the fifth, and Clark was next. He clocked a 1-0 pitch from Reyes over the batters' eye in center to give the Woodies the lead. It was Clark's second homer of the season - both against the P-Nats.
For a shutdown inning, Pena struck out the side in the sixth inning. He struck out at least one batter in six of his seven innings pitched in. Gushue led off the seventh and tagged Pena again for a solo home run to left. It was his second career multi-homer game, the previous coming when he was a Pittsburgh farmhand.
When a runner reached on an error and two outs, Pena was lifted for Jason Richman. After a walk, he induced a fly-out by #1 Nationals prospect Victor Robles to leave two runners stranded. Richman struck out the first batter of the ninth, but was pulled after an infield single by Ian Sagdal. Ricardo Rodriguez entered for the five-out save.
He ended the eighth without another baserunner, and returned for the ninth inning. He struck out the first two batters of the inning, but then back-to-back singles by the bottom of the order brought Robles back to the plate with the tying run in scoring position. Robles would fly out to center and the Wood Ducks won their sixth one-run game of the season.
Next, Down East (12-13) looks for the series win on Tuesday against Potomac (12-11) at 7:00 p.m.. Right-hander Pedro Payano will go for the Wood Ducks against lefty Hector Silvestre for the Nats. You can listen to every pitch of the 2017 season live on Sports/Talk 960 The Bull or on the TuneIn Radio app.