Ernny Ordoñez's grand slam powers Hoppers

Matt Gorski hits a two-run triple, and Hudson Head extends his hitting streak to eight games

Greensboro Grasshoppers center fielder Matt Gorski. (Jak Kerley/Greensboro Grasshoppers)

By Jeff Mills

May 13, 2022

HICKORY ― Ernny Ordonez hit a grand slam, and Matt Gorski had a two-run triple, leading the Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 7-1 victory over the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium on Thursday night. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Ordoñez hit the first pitch he saw from

HICKORY ― Ernny Ordonez hit a grand slam, and Matt Gorski had a two-run triple, leading the Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 7-1 victory over the Hickory Crawdads at L.P. Frans Stadium on Thursday night.

With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Ordoñez hit the first pitch he saw from losing pitcher Ben Anderson (2-2) over the fence in left field for his third home run of the season, pushing Greensboro's lead to 5-0.

Eli Wilson went 2-for-4 with an RBI single for the Hoppers, and newcomer Jacob Gonzalez stayed hot, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Right-hander Jack Carey (2-3), the second of five Greensboro pitchers, picked up the win in relief, striking out three in 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Hoppers starter Nick Garcia worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out four. He stranded five baserunners, but threw 84 pitches and left the game one out short of qualifying for a win.

Hudson Head went 2-for-3 with a run scored, extending his hitting streak to eight games. The 21-year-old outfielder, rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 22 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, has reached base in 13 of his last 14 games.

NOTES

The Hoppers went 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and both Wilson's and Gorski's run-scoring hits came with two outs.
First baseman Jacob Gonzalez continued his hot start for Greensboro. The 23-year-old son of former big-league All-Sar Luis Gonzalez homered in his first two games with the Hoppers, and he is 7-for-11 (.636) with five RBIs in three games. ... Gonzalez batted .393 with 11 doubles, four home runs and 16 RBIs in 24 games for the Bradenton Marauders before his promotion to Greensboro. He was a second-round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2017, turning pro right out of high school, and is in his fifth minor-league season.
Designated hitter Matt Gorski went 1-for-5 with two RBIs. Gorski is batting .269, and he leads the South Atlantic League with 24 runs scored. Gorski ranks third in the league in both home runs (8) and RBIs (25). Gorski also leads the Hoppers in stolen bases (9). He has been on base in 26 of 28 games played so far this season.

In his career at the News & Record, journalist Jeff Mills won 10 national and 12 state writing awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society for Features Journalism, and the N.C. Press Association.