'Dogs Soar Past Greensboro On the Power of Bird
GREENSBORO, NC - Greg Bird led the offensive charge for the Charleston RiverDogs as he finished 4-5 with three homers a single and knocked in all seven runs for Charleston en route to a 7-5 RiverDogs victory
on Friday evening at NewBridge Bank Park in South Atlantic League action.
With the win, the RiverDogs improve to 14-11 in the second half and 53-40 overall. With the loss, the Grasshoppers drop to 13-14 in the second half and 46-50 overall.
Greg Bird got his night started early with a two out solo blast to give
The very next half-inning, the
Greg Bird attacked again in the top of the fourth inning. Following a pair of singles by Jake Cave and Cito Culver, Bird smashed a monster home run to right center to give Charleston a 6-1 cushion.
The final at-bat for Bird saw the designated hitter drive a single to left to score
Bird finished his night 4-for-5 with three homers, a single and seven RBI's. The three homers and seven RBI's are both career highs for Bird and season highs for a RiverDog.
Cito Culver and Danny Oh also chipped in with big nights. Culver went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a stolen base, while Danny Oh finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, a single and a stolen base.
In a wacky bottom of the ninth, Viosergy Rosa would leadoff with a single. Following Rosa's single, Jesus Solarzano homered to shallow right center and due to the flyball, Rosa held his position in-between first and second base. Solarzano passed
With Cameron Flynn at third, RiverDogs outfielder Kelvin De Leon tried chasing down a foul ball and had to come out of the game with an undisclosed injury. With De
RiverDogs starter Evan Rutckyj (8-6) picked up his team leading eighth victory of the season. Rutckyj's final line was five innings, three runs, two earned, on four hits, six strikeouts and one walk. Rutckyj was relieved by John Brebbia to start the sixth, and Brebbia sat down the Grasshoppers in order in his three innings of relief with one strikeout. Derek Varnadore allowed two runs, only one earned, in the ninth inning but eventually closed the door to seal the win.
Taking the loss for the Grasshoppers was their starter Daniel Oliver (2-3). Oliver's final line was four innings and he allowed six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
The RiverDogs will stay in the state of
--RIVERDOGS--