Chase Murray's walk-off shot lifts Hoppers in I-40 slugfest

Greensboro hits five home runs and Winston-Salem hits six as Battle for I-40 rivalry heats up

Relief pitcher Will Kobos improved to 5-2 with a 2.67 ERA as Greensboro beat Winston-Salem in a game that featured a combined 11 home runs. (Jak Kerley/Greensboro Grasshoppers)

By Jeff Mills

July 30, 2021

GREENSBORO ― On sultry summer nights, when the heat and humidity are both high, hard-hit balls at First National Bank Field tend to carry. And carry. And carry. And carry. Chase Murray's flyball to the opposite field sailed over the left-field wall for a game-winning two-run home run in the

GREENSBORO ― On sultry summer nights, when the heat and humidity are both high, hard-hit balls at First National Bank Field tend to carry.

And carry. And carry. And carry.

Chase Murray's flyball to the opposite field sailed over the left-field wall for a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Greensboro Grasshoppers rallied for a 9-8 victory over the Winston-Salem Dash at the downtown ballpark Thursday night.

The Hoppers boiled out of the dugout and mobbed Murray after he crossed home plate, a celebration that pushed out into the infield. Murray emerged from the pile grinning and shirtless, as teammates had torn his No. 5 jersey from his back during the celebration.

For Murray, a 23-year-old outfielder drafted in 2019, it was his third home run of the season, and the dinger delivered Greensboro's sixth walk-off win of the season. Six different players have driven in the winning run in those games: Murray, Jared Triolo, Matthew Fraizer, Matt Gorski, Lolo Sanchez and Nick Gonzales.

Murray's game-winner in the ninth was the 11th home run of the game. Greensboro hit five. Winston-Salem hit six, three of those off the bat of Alex Destino, who finished 4-for-5 with four RBIs for the Dash.

Greensboro scored all its runs after getting shut out for the first five innings. Home runs produced eight of the Hoppers' nine runs in the game.

Destino's home run in the top of the ninth gave the Dash an 8-7 lead, and Winston-Salem gave the ball to reliever Ryan Williamson.

Gorski scorched Williamson's first pitch to left field and narrowly missed a home run of his own. The ball banged hard off the top of the fence for a double. Murray, a left-handed hitter, followed and lifted a 2-2 pitch the other way for his walk-off home run.

Greensboro sent 11 batters to the plate and scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to erase a 7-2 deficit.

Red-hot Blake Sabol led off the big inning with a solo home run. Will Matthiessen hit the biggest blow, a 453-foot drive off reliever Sal Biasi that cleared the center-field fence for a three-run homer. Triolo's two-out RBI single drove home Fraizer from second base with the tying run.

Sabol has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 18-for-39 (.462) with three doubles and five home runs in that span.

Fraizer, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.

Liover Peguero, a shortstop rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 4 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, opened the scoring for Greensboro with a 393-foot solo home run to left field in the sixth inning. Andres Alvarez hit a solo shot in the seventh.

Winning pitcher Will Kobos (5-2, 2.67 ERA) worked the ninth inning and surrendered Destino's third homer of the game, but retired the other three hitters he faced and won on Murray's clutch hit.

Greensboro starter Domingo Gonzalez and relievers Alex Manasa and Kobos combined for 15 strikeouts and walked two.

The Hoppers offense pounded out 14 hits, and all nine players in the lineup finished with at least one hit.

With the win, the Hoppers (46-29) take an 8-7 lead over the Dash (30-45) in the season series known as "The Battle of I-40." The renewed rivalry matches teams from Greensboro and Winston-Salem for the first time since 1968.

NOTES: The playoff format in the High-A East this year is a five-game series between the two teams with the best records, regardless of division. After Thursday's game, Greensboro is third in that pennant race, two games behind the North Division leader, the Hudson Valley Renegades. ... Since the end of May, Fraizer has put together hitting streaks of 16 games, 12 games and now 10 games and counting. ... Fraizer leads the league in hits (91), runs (58), home runs (19) and batting average (.315). ... Triolo went 2-for-5 and has hit safely in 19 of his last 22 games, going 33-for-93 (.355) with six doubles, four home runs, 20 RBIs and 11 stolen bases in that span. He's third in the league with 51 RBIs, and he has raised his batting average from .237 on June 1 to .293 after Thursday's game.

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.