After a frustrating 6-3 loss in which the Hub City offense scored first and then all but vanished after leaving the bases loaded in the 2nd inning, the Spartanburgers (20-20) looked to get their bats cooking again versus Rome left hander Herick Hernandez (0-3, 6.67 ERA) on Wednesday night. The Burgers would counter with Aidan Curry (1-1, 8.15).
Curry managed to hang a zero in the first inning after issuing a leadoff 4-pitch walk to shortstop Lizandro Espinoza, who was later caught stealing for the first out. With 2 away, left fielder Titus Dumitru singled, but he would be left stranded after a fly ball to right. On the flipside, Hub City’s offense had their 4-game streak with at least 1 first inning run snapped , going down in order.
Rome would draw first blood in the top of the 2nd, doing so without the benefit of a hit. Second Baseman Ambioris Tavarez drew a 1 out base on balls. He took 2nd on a passed ball, and after Hub City catcher Julian Brock threw the ball into left field trying to gun Tavarez out at third, trotted home to take a 1-0 lead. That was not the only trouble in the inning. Jace Grady reached on a 2 out walk followed by a single from 9-hole hitter Joe Olsavsky. Fortunately for Curry, a fly ball to right kept them there.
Hub City got their first hit of the game on a one out single from Casey Cook in the ensuing half inning. He proceeded to steal 2nd, but ended up being left there as back to back fly balls to center ended the inning. Rome also threatened in the 3rd with a 2 out triple from 1st baseman Will Verdung, but the crisis was averted when third baseman EJ Exposito went down looking to retire the side.
The Spartanburgers got a leadoff single from Quincy Scott in the home half, and got him to 2nd on a swinging bunt from shortstop Esteban Mejia. But, back to back strikeouts of Keith Jones II and Anthony Gutierrez left him there. Aside from one pitch, both pitching staffs locked in from that point on. That one pitch was an 0-1 to Gleider Figuereo from Hernandez that got deposited into the bullpen to the right of the scoreboard to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the 5th. Apart from that, Hernandez and William Silva combined to hold the Burgers off the scoreboard in spite of having a runner in each of the next 2 frames. On a much-needed positive swing, Hub City’s bullpen matched that perfectly. After Curry went 4 complete, allowing just the 1 earned run on 3 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts, Victor Simeon, Mailon Felix, and Joey Danielson combined to shut them down over the next four no-hit frames, striking out 6 more and walking just one along the way.
Hub City had a threat going in both the 8th and 9th innings, neither of which came to anything. They loaded the bases with 2 out in the eighth only for Julian Brock to go down looking at a full count pitch right down West Main Street. In the ninth, Quincy Scott singled to lead off and got into scoring position when Arturo Disla drew a 1walk. But Anthony Gutierrez grounded into a 1-4-3 double play to force extra innings.
Willian Bormie kept the scoreless streak alive for the bullpen by striking out two in the 9th. However, in extra innings, Rome took advantage of the ghost runner rule and took the lead on a leadoff double off Bormie. But, he settled down and struck out two of the next three to leave the go ahead run in scoring position.
The Spartanburgers answered on a rather unconventional double play after Anthony Gutierrez scored the tying run on a 2 out single off the pitcher’s foot but pinch runner Danyer Cueva was forced out 1-6-5 off the deflection to end the inning and send the game to the 11th.
Josh Mollerus went the rest of the way on the bump for the Burgers, working 2 scoreless frames with 3 more K’s recorded to make for a total of 19 amassed by Hub City pitching on the night. In the end, after leaving the winning run on third in the bottom of the 11th, the Spartanburgers walked it off in the 12th on a leadoff single over the head of the left fielder that plated ghost runner Anthony Gutierrez for a 3-2 victory.
With the win, the Burgers pushed their record back over .500 at 21-20 and within a game of first place in spite of being third in the standings. They will look to take the lead in the series and start a win streak tomorrow night with a 6:35 first pitch as Josh Trentadue is set to face a yet to be named starter for the Emperors.
