Stripers Come Up Short in Shootout with Columbus, Winning Streak Snapped at Six
LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – The Gwinnett Stripers (29-23) lost a three-run lead and battled back from a three-run deficit, but were undone by a two-run ninth inning from the Columbus Clippers (34-17) that broke a 9-9 tie and handed the Stripers a series-opening defeat on Tuesday night at Coolray Field. Gwinnett
LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – The Gwinnett Stripers (29-23) lost a three-run lead and battled back from a three-run deficit, but were undone by a two-run ninth inning from the Columbus Clippers (34-17) that broke a 9-9 tie and handed the Stripers a series-opening defeat on Tuesday night at Coolray Field. Gwinnett now trails Columbus by 5.5 games for the International League second half title with 23 games remaining.
Decisive Plays: Gwinnett broke through on an RBI single by Zack Short in the third inning. Columbus took the lead on RBI singles from Bryan Lavastida and Raynel Delgado in the top of the fourth. The Stripers surged in front 6-3 with a five-run fourth inning featuring RBI singles by Short, Chadwick Tromp, Luke Waddell, and Alejo Lopez. Columbus assumed a 9-6 lead with a pair of two-run doubles by Delgado and Chase DeLauter, and a two-run home run by Johnathan Rodriguez off Dylan Dodd (BS, 1). Tromp singled in a pair in the seventh to cut the deficit to one run and Brian Anderson tied the game with a solo home run (3) in the eighth. DeLauter doubled in a run and Juan Brito singled in a run to give the Clippers an 11-9 lead in the ninth. An RBI double by Anderson got Gwinnett within one run, but Short flew out to center field with Anderson on second base as the potential tying run.
Key Contributors: Anderson (2-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Short (2-for-4, 2 RBI), and Tromp (2-for-5, 3 RBI) all had multi-RBI games for Gwinnett. For Columbus, DeLauter (3-for-5, 3 2B, 3 RBI) and Delgado (2-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI) burned the Stripers throughout the game, while Rodriguez (3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) collected the Clippers' only home run of the night.
Noteworthy: Tromp extended his multi-hit streak to four games, and is batting .555 (10-18, 4 2B, 3 R, 8 RBI) since August 23. Lopez has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and collected his sixth multi-hit performance in that stretch. The Stripers fell to 16-2 when scoring 10 or more runs this season.
Next Game (Wednesday, August 28): Gwinnett vs. Columbus, 7:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 6:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com and Bally Live. It's Wet Nose Wednesday at Coolray Field, as dogs get in free with a paid owner on The Bank, the outfield berm lawn seating.