Late Rally Falls Short in Suns 7-5 Loss on Sunday

Hagerstown, MD -  Five Suns had multi-hit games as the Hagerstown Suns fell 7-5 to the Columbia Fireflies on Sunday afternoon at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 21-31 in the second half and 48-72 overall and will play the third game of the four-game set on Monday night with a 7:05 PM first pitch.
The Fireflies scored first in the third inning against Suns starter Tomas Alastre. With one out, Jay Jabs walked and Hansel Moreno belted a 384-foot two-run home run, giving Columbia a 2-0 advantage.

Hagerstown scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning against Columbia starter Nicolas Debora. Jake Scudder led off with a single and Anderson Franco singled to left to put runners on first and second with no outs. Omar Meregildo followed with a double down the left-field line, plating Scudder to make it a 2-1 Fireflies lead. Phil Caulfield reached on a two-base error, while Franco and Meregildo scored to give the Suns a 3-2 lead.
Columbia regained the lead in the fifth against Alastre. With one out, Carlos Sanchez and Jabs walked to put runners on first and second. Moreno hit a fly ball to right and Sanchez advanced to third on the play. David Miranda was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Matt Winaker doubled down the right-field line, plating Sanchez and Jabs to make it a 4-3 Fireflies lead.
Columbia added three runs in the top of the ninth against German. Moreno led off with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Winaker was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners and Zach Rheams hit a sacrifice fly to center, plating Moreno to make it a 5-3 Fireflies lead. Edgardo Fermin doubled to left-center to put runners on second and third and Dionis Paulino singled to right, scoring Winaker and Fermin to extend the Columbia lead to 7-3.
The Suns attempted a rally in the ninth against Fireflies reliever Conner O'Neil. With one out, Kameron Esthay singled to center and moved to second on a ground out. Paul Panaccione doubled to center, plating Esthay to cut the Columbia lead to 7-4. Joey Harris followed with a single to score Panaccione, making it a 7-5 game. O'neil worked out of the inning before the Suns could do more damage, getting Armond Upshaw to fly-out to left and ending the game with Columbia dealing the Suns their third straight loss, 7-4.
Alastre (4-7) spun six innings while allowing four runs on five hits and four walks with two strikeouts. German pitched the final three innings while giving up three runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Notes:  Caulfield made his first start in the outfield this season… It's the first start in the outfield of his pro career… Cole Freeman extended his hit streak to four games… He was also intentionally walked for the first time this season… It's the first time a Suns hitter was intentionally walked since Yasel Antuna on May 6 vs Kannapolis… Scudder increased his hit streak to three games… Meregildo had his 12^th multi-hit game of the season… His two hits extend his hit streak to seven games… Franco increased his hit streak to three games… It was also his 12^th multi-hit game of 2018… Armond Upshaw has a five game hit streak… Kameron Esthay extended his hit streak to six games… He had his 15^th multi-hit game of the year… Panaccione snapped a five-game hitless streak with his fourth multi-hit game of the year… Hagerstown will play game three of the four-game series with Columbia Monday night with a 7:05 PM first pitch… The Suns will send RHP Sam Held (4-6, 3.98 ERA) to the mound against Fireflies RHP Tony Dibrell (5-5, 3.41 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:55 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia tab and clicking on "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio and MiLB First Pitch apps.
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