GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 29, 2018) -- Trevor Rogers took a no-hitter two outs into the eighth inning in the longest start of his career, and the Grasshoppers rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win, 2-1, over the Hickory Crawdads on Sunday afternoon at First National Bank
GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 29, 2018) -- Trevor Rogers took a no-hitter two outs into the eighth inning in the longest start of his career, and the Grasshoppers rallied in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win, 2-1, over the Hickory Crawdads on Sunday afternoon at First National Bank Field. Rogers, the Miami Marlins' 2017 first round draft pick, struck out a career-high 12 batters to shatter his previous high watermark of eight as Greensboro completed a sweep of Hickory in this 3-game series.
With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the ninth, Chris Torres led off with a base hit, and Tristan Pompey followed with a walk. Two batters later, Isael Soto laced his second double of the day down the right-field line to score Torres. The Grasshoppers poured out of the dugout and chased after Soto with multiple water jugs into shallow center field, dumping the orange coolers on ninth inning hero. Soto finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two doubles.
Rogers took no decision in limiting Hickory to one base runner over the first seven innings, a leadoff walk by Tyreque Reed in the second inning. Following the free pass, the left hander retired the next 20 batters to record the first two outs of the eighth inning. He finished with 12 strikeouts and two walks while allowing no runs on one hits over 7 and 2/3 innings, throwing 95 pitches (67 strikes) to match his career-high set in his previous start on July 23 at Lakewood.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Rogers walked Yohel Pozo, and Miguel Aparicio followed with a flare over the shortstop into shallow left-center field, breaking up the no-hitter. Greensboro manager Todd Pratt removed Rogers from the game after the single, and the Hoppers hurler left the mound to a proud ovation from the hometown fans.
Greensboro (52-53, 18-18 Second Half) supported Rogers with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Tristan Pompey -- on the heels of a 4-hit game on Saturday night -- walked and stole second base, and Isael Soto followed with a 2-out RBI-double for a 1-0 lead.
Hickory tied the game in the top of the ninth against Greensboro reliever Michael Mertz. Bubba Thompson reached base on a Gunner Schubert error to open the inning, and Yonny Hernandez followed with a walk. After stolen bases by Thompson and Hernandez moved both men into scoring position, Tyreque Reed grounded a ball to first base. Harrison DiNicola fielded the ball and took it to first base rather than attempt to throw out the runner at the plate, giving the Crawdads the tying run, 1-1.
The Grasshoppers completed their first sweep since taking both games of a series at Hagerstown in June to end the first half.
Greensboro hits the road over the next week, taking on Rome for three and Kannapolis for four. The Grasshoppers return to First National Bank Field on Tuesday, August 7, for a 7-game home stand, and tickets are available for all games online at gsohoppers.com.
