Mudcats Waste Early Lead in 4-2 Loss in Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Despite taking an early 2-0 lead, the Mudcats ended up losing their fifth straight game, 4-2 to the Woodpeckers on Saturday night at Segra Stadium in Fayetteville. The Woodpeckers scored twice in the fifth to tie the game before getting solo home runs in the sixth and seventh in their series clinching victory versus Carolina.

Carolina (16-21, 55-51) scored first in the game after Brice Turang led things off with a walk before stealing second, stealing third and then scoring on a wild pitch. Eddie Silva then put Carolina up 2-0 in the fourth after forcing in Mario Feliciano from third with a ground ball to short. 
Carolina's 2-0 lead slipped away, however, in the fifth after the Woodpeckers (19-18, 50-56) rallied back with two, two-out runs off starter Matt Smith to tie the game at 2-2. Fayetteville then took a 3-2 lead in the seventh when Enmanuel Valdez hit a solo home run off reliever J.T. Hintzen. Chandler Taylor then put the Woodpeckers up 4-2 in the eighth with a solo homer off newly added Carolina reliever Robbie Hitt.
Smith started for Carolina and originally worked through four and 2/3 scoreless before walking a batter and allowing three straight hits in the fifth. Both Jeremy Pena and Jonathan Arauz had run scoring hits for the Woodpeckers in the fifth while tying the game at 2-2. Smith ended up leaving the game after allowing Arauz's game tying single and finished his outing with two runs allowed on six hits over four and 2/3 innings. He also walked one and struck out three. Reliever Michael Petersen followed and recorded a strikeout while working through the rest of the fifth.
Hintzen (L, 0-1, 2.81) ended up suffering his first loss of the season after allowing just the one run Fayetteville run in the game. He also allowed three hits and struck out one while pitching the sixth and seventh innings. 
Hitt worked the eighth and allowed two hits, including Taylor's home run in the eighth in what was his Mudcats' debut. The home run was just his second allowed this season and the fourth allowed in his career.
The victory in Saturday's series clinching win for Fayetteville went to reliever Joey Gonzalez who pitched through three scoreless innings with a strikeout and a walk over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. He was later followed by reliever Cesar Rosado who worked around a leadoff single from Eddie Silva and stranded two me on base in the ninth to earn his fifth save. 
On offense, Valdez led the way for Fayetteville while going 2-for-3 with two runs and the go-ahead run home run in the seventh. Taylor went 1-for-4 with his eighth inning homer to extend the lead, Pena went 3-for-4 and Ross Adolph went 2-for-4.
Turang led the way for Carolina as he scored the game's first run, walked once, stole two bags and went 1-for-4 in the game. Mario Feliciano went 1-for-4 with a run and Payton Henry went 1-for-2 before leaving in the fifth after a collision at home forced him out of the game. The collision occurred on a slide into the plate by Arauz who was caught at home on a double steal attempt by Henry and Turang (2-6-2).
The loss was Carolina's fifth straight and dropped them 0-5 in their current road trip. The trip will conclude in Fayetteville on Sunday night with the first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Segra Stadium. RHP Matt Hardy (7-1, 3.6) will get the start for the Mudcats in Sunday's series finale.
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