After a much-needed and relieving performance from the Spartanburgers’ (26-23) bats that went 6-20 with runners in scoring position and stranded 7 in a 12-2 rout of Winston-Salem (17-32) in game 4 of the series, Hub City looked to avoid the typical situation where not enough runs were saved for the rest of the series while also taking the lead in the set on Saturday afternoon.
Righty DJ McCarty (8.42 ERA) looked to get his ERA down in his eighth start of the season, going opposite fellow right hander Tanner McDougal (0-3, 4.24). Those two ended up continuing to prove that earned run averages don’t matter in high A baseball. Both arms threw absolute gas on their fastballs. McDougal touched 100 once, but topped out on average around 98 and did a good job of mixing his pitches and working backwards when he needed to. McCarty also showed he had some velocity, hitting mid 90s consistently on his fastball.
McDougal departed after 7 shutout innings, striking out 8 with no walks and three hits.
DJ McCarty ended up tossing 5 scoreless frames for Hub City, striking out 5 with a walk and 2 hits. He gave way to Willian Bormie, who kept it going by hanging 2 goose eggs with 3 strikeouts despite a 2 out double in the top of the 6th from 2nd baseman Jeral Perez. Bormie was replaced by Seth Clark to start the 8th, which went perfectly, retiring the side on 3 grounders.
Unfortunately, he ran into major trouble in the 9th. As has been the case this whole series, a leadoff walk came back to bite. Left Fielder Cole McConnell got the free pass and was taken down for pinch runner Terrell Tatum. Second baseman Jeral Perez followed it by reaching on a fielder’s choice where Casey Cook threw to 2nd to try and force Tatum, but was too late and the errant throw put 2 on with no out. A wild pitch later advanced both runners, and with one out Clark walked designated hitter Matt Hogan to load the bases.
Despite that, Clark had a chance to get out of it, striking out the next man and getting a comebacker to him on the third base side of the infield. But, he hesitated for a split second thinking about going to third, but instead was basically forced to throw to first – still with plenty of time to make a good throw. However, he did not set his feet and rushed it, going wide of Disla to score 2 unearned and put catcher Jackson Appel in scoring position. First baseman Alec Makarewicz dealt one more blow for the Dash, following with a double to make a 4-0 advantage. Clark then yielded to Joey Danielson, who got his one and only hitter to ground out to 1st unassisted to retire the side.
Hub City’s offense would avert a shutout in the bottom of the ninth when Gleider Figuereo led off with a solo shot into the Burger bullpen in right off reliever Phil Fox, who (spoiler) would end up earning the win in relief after 2 innings of work with2 hits, a strikeout, and no walks. After the home run, Fox sat the next three quietly to end it, putting the Spartanburgers in a situation where they will have to salvage the finale to come away with a split in a series that they should have won.
They will try to make that happen on Sunday afternoon behind right hander Jose Gonzalez (0-4, 3.00 ERA) as he duels a yet-to-be-named Winston-Salem arm. First pitch is set for 2:05 PM.
