Restocked Crawdads beat Hoppers to take 3-2 series lead

GREENSBORO ― All of a sudden, Sunday's series finale takes on added importance.

There's a streak in jeopardy.

Winning pitcher Kevin Gowdy struck out five in six dominant innings, and Dustin Harris went 5-for-6 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Hickory Crawdads to a 16-2 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers in front of a crowd of 4,991 on a Spectacular Saturday fireworks night at First National Bank Field.

The new-look Crawdads (38-44) ― who had five players in their starting lineup acquired in deals at the trade deadline including both Gowdy and Harris ― have won three games in this six-game series with the Hoppers (51-32).

This is the 14th six-game series of the season for Greensboro, and the Hoppers have won or at least split the previous 13 on the way to a .614 winning percentage that's third-best in the 12-team High-A East league.

Now that streak is in jeopardy against Hickory, which has scored 54 runs in the last five games against Greensboro.

The Crawdads pounded out 18 hits against Greensboro on Saturday, including four home runs in the eighth inning against Hoppers newcomer Sergio Umana, who was promoted from Low-A Bradenton before the game. Umana was 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in 16 relief appearances for the Marauders.

Losing pitcher J.C. Flowers (4-2, 4.80 ERA) gave up eight runs ― six earned ― in 3 1/3 innings against Hickory.

Blake Sabol went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Hoppers, and Aaron Shackelford was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Sabol has hit safely in 14 of his last 17 games, going 23-for-61 (.377) with five doubles and five home runs during that span.

Outfielder Chase Murray ― who had a key two-run single in Friday's improbable 12-inning win ― left Saturday's game with an arm injury, falling awkwardly after a leaping catch attempt at the right-field wall that kept a potential home run in the ballpark.

Murray had started in place of Matt Gorski, who left Friday's game with a leg injury and sat out Saturday's game. Gorski is on a nine-game hitting streak, going 11-for-30 (.367) with three home runs, three doubles and eight runs scored during that span.

Notes

• Greensboro (51-32) remains in second place, eight games behind Bowling Green (59-24) in the High-A East's South Division. The top two teams in the league ― regardless of division ― qualify for the championship series. The Grasshoppers trail North Division leader Hudson Valley (53-30) by two games in the playoff chase. The Hoppers and Renegades play 12 head-to-head games in the final 20 days of the season
• Greensboro has won 10 of its last 15 games and is 23-10 since July 1.
• Hoppers third baseman Jared Triolo went 1-for-3 with a run scored, and he has hit safely in 26 of his last 29 games, batting .355 (43-for-121) with seven doubles, five home runs, 28 RBIs and 12 stolen bases in that span. He ranks fourth in the High-A East with 59 RBIs, and he has raised his batting average from .237 on June 1 to .299 through Aug. 7.
• Hickory starter Gowdy, who was acquired in a trade, is 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA in two games since joining the Crawdads.
• Hickory shortstop Josh Smith, third baseman Ezequiel Duran and left fielder Trevor Hauver ― three players acquired from the Yankees organization in the deadline deal for big-league slugger Joey Gallo ― went a combined 6-for-16 with a home run, a double, five RBIs and seven runs scored Saturday.