Greensboro, NC - Aldrem Corredor homered in his third-straight game, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs in the Hagerstown Suns' 11-4 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers to conclude a three-game set at First National Bank Field on Thursday night. The Suns improve to 9-18 overall and will begin a four-game series
Greensboro, NC - Aldrem Corredor homered in his third-straight game, going 3-for-5 with five RBIs in the Hagerstown Suns' 11-4 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers to conclude a three-game set at First National Bank Field on Thursday night. The Suns improve to 9-18 overall and will begin a four-game series with the Kannapolis Intimidators at 7:05 PM on Friday at Intimidator Stadium.
Hagerstown put up four runs in the first inning against Grasshoppers starter Taylor Braley to get an early advantage. With two outs, Yasel Antuna hit a solo homer to center, putting the Suns up by a run with his second long-ball of the season. Anderson Franco singled and Luis Garcia drove him in with a triple to make it 2-0. Nick Banks bashed his third homer of the year to clear the bases and give Hagerstown a 4-0 edge.
Greensboro fought back in the bottom of the second against Jackson Stoeckinger, the starter for Hagerstown. The lefty struck out the first two hitters he faced, but Thomas Jones homered to left to cut into the Suns lead and make it a 4-1 game. B.J. López singled and when to third when Jhonny Santos doubled to left, but Zach Sullivan struck out to end the inning and the threat.
Jones touched Stoeckinger up again in the fourth inning, this time to cut the Suns lead to two runs. With two outs again, Jones rode the third pitch of his at-bat out to left field for his third homer of the season to make it a 4-2 ballgame with the Suns still on top.
The Suns extended their lead back to three runs in the sixth with Corredor providing the power against Braley. Banks struck out to lead off the inning and Corredor hammered a 1-1 pitch to deep right-field. The homer was Corredor's third in as many games and gave Hagerstown a 5-2 advantage.
Hagerstown scored again in the eighth against 'Hoppers reliever Travis Neubeck. Garcia led off with a double to right and scored on the next pitch when Banks singled to center. The run gave Hagerstown a 6-2 lead, but that is all they would get in the inning.
The Grasshoppers got within a pair after scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth against Suns reliever Kyle Johnston. With one out, Sam Castro walked and with two away Lazaro Alonso homered to left, bringing the score to 6-4. Marcos Rivera singled to extend the inning, but Jones grounded into a force out to end the inning.
The Suns piled on in the ninth, opening up a huge lead against Grasshoppers reliever R.J. Peace. Cole Freeman singled with one out and went to third when Antuna singled to right. A wild pitch allowed Freeman to score and Antuna to take second with the Suns out to a 7-4 lead. Franco and Garcia both walked to load the bases, and Banks doubled to right while Antuna and Franco both scored. Garcia went to third and the Suns took a commanding 9-4 lead. Corredor capped off the scoring for Hagerstown with another extra-base hit - a double - to plate both Garcia and Banks to give the Suns an 11-4 victory.
Stoeckinger (1-2) earned his first win of the season in a quality start, going 6.0 innings with two runs on two hits and eight strikeouts. Johnston earned his first hold of the season, throwing 2.0 innings while allowing two runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout. Steven Fuentes made his 2018 Suns debut, throwing an inning while allowing a hit with a strikeout.
Notes: Corredor has homered in each of his last three games, dating back to April 28 against Rome… He's also on a three-game hit streak… Banks set a new career-high with five RBIs… Banks is on a four-game hitting streak… Franco has a hit in five consecutive games… Freeman's hit streak is up to four games…, Garcia and Sundberg both have three-game hitting streaks… Stoeckinger's eight strikeouts falls one-short of his career high (9) but ties the season-high set by Jackson Tetreault on April 12 against Greensboro… Thursday was the second straight night a player had a multi-homer game in this series, with Franco hitting two in Wednesday's contest… Banks had his fifth multi-hit game and second multi-RBI game of the season… The 11 runs on Thursday are the most by Hagerstown this year… The 16 hits are also a season-high… The Suns had six hits in the first inning, which is a single-inning high this season… Antuna snapped a four-game hitless streak… Hagerstown won their first series of the season… Eight different Suns had a hit for the third consecutive night… Six Hagerstown batters had multi-hit games… Greensboro turned four double-plays on Thursday, the most by any Suns opponent this season… The Suns will open up a four-game series against the Kannapolis Intimidators on Friday with a 7:05 PM first pitch… Hagerstown will send LHP Nick Raquet (2-2, 2.28 ERA) to the hill against Intimidators RHP Blake Battenfield (1-1, 2.18 ERA).
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