Following a dominant pitching performance from all three arms Chad Comer rolled out and a 5-walk 8th inning helped the Spartanburgers to a 4-0 shutout win in the series opener on Tuesday night, Dylan MacLean (2-0, 3.74 ERA) looked to notch his third win of the season going opposite right hander Yeriel Santos (0-8, 8.17).
MacLean made good on his efforts to add some more shutout innings for the Burgers’ pitching staff, retiring each of the first 9 batters he faced. The perfect game was broken up in the top of the 4th when shortstop Alejandro Nunez narrowly missed a home run, instead tripling off the top of the fence in the right field corner. He later scored on a sacrifice fly from designated hitter Walker Janek. Catcher Will Bush followed with a single, but after a line out to right was caught stealing to retire the side.
MacLean would end up going 5 innings, striking out 6, walking one, and surrendering 1 earned on 2 hits. Spoiler: he got his third win of the season. Dylan gave way to Aidan Curry for what would be his first appearance since rejoining the team after a rehab stint at the Arizona Complex League, and earned a save as he went the rest of the way with 7 sat down on strikes, 2 walks, 2 hits, and no runs.
Now for the offensive side of things. Usually, you can toss win/loss records and ERA out the door when looking at the stats for a High A starter. But, occasionally one has to stop ignoring the obvious because the invisible ink has long been revealed. Santos, who has never made it any higher than High A in what is now his third season in the minor leagues, produced exactly the type of result his ERA and career journey to this point would lead you to believe.
Hub City got to him early, starting the bottom of the first with an Anthony Gutierrez infield single to 3rd. He stole both 2nd and third, but that all became just stats for the padding rather than generating offense in the end as Gleider Figuereo sent a 2-1 pitch into the Spartanburgers’ bullpen in right for a 2-0 lead. Malcolm Moore narrowly missed going back to back, instead doubling off the base of the fence in right center, but he would end up left there.
The Burgers got right back to form in the next inning, hanging a 4 spot. The frame started with a single and a stolen base from Yeison Morrobel. With 1 out, Quincy Scott II walked followed by a string of three straight base knocks from Anthony Gutierrez, Dylan Dreiling, and Figuereo. Gutierrez and Figuereo’s hits drove in runs. Malcolm Moore also added an RBI on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 6-0 heading to the 3rd. Another run came across in the bottom of the 4th when Gutierrez drew a leadoff base on balls and swiped 2nd. With 2 away, Malcolm Moore singled him home to up the advantage to 7-1.
Hub City added 2 more in the bottom of the 8th after loading the bases on a pair of singles with a walk sandwiched in between. Dylan Dreiling drew a walk to force home John Taylor. Figuereo later put a cap on the scoring with 1 out, grounding into a fielder’s choice where Dreiling was forced out at 2nd and Scott II came home as Hub City went on to take a 2-0 lead in the series with a 9-1 victory and up their record to 19-13 on the half (49-46 overall).
Game three is set for 6:35 PM on Thursday night as a yet-to-be-named Hub City arm will take on right hander Jean Pinto (1-2, 6.12).
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