After cruising to a 6-1 win in the opener on Tuesday night to tie with Greenville atop the South Atlantic League South Division Second Half standings, the Hub City Spartanburgers (25-24, 56-58 overall) looked to jump into the lead in the race for the 2nd playoff spot. Chad Comer turned to right hander Aidan Curry (3-1, 3.80 ERA) to try and get that done opposite Greenville’s lefty Devin Futrell (0-1, 1.08).
Curry followed suit with the efficient effort last night from Dylan MacLean, albeit with a couple of walks in the mix. He struck out 9 and carried a no hitter into the 5th, finally broken up by a 2 out double from 9-hole hitter and left fielder Fraymi De Leon.
The Spartanburgers offense failed to come through in the clutch through the first 2 innings, leaving 2 on after consecutive 2 out singles in the first and another after a 2 out base knock in the 2nd. In the top of the 3rd, the Burgers finally broke the goose egg with 3 straight 1 out base hits, the third of which came from Rafe Perich and scored Casey Cook. Maxton Martin then loaded the bases by reaching on a fielder’s choice in which the 1st baseman dropped the ball trying to throw to second for an error. But no further damage could be done as Gleider Figuereo ended up grounding into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning, but the Burgers led 1-0.
That lead held until the 5th inning when the De Leon double was followed by a single from Red Sox top prospect Franklin Arias that tied the game at 1. Curry would exit after the fifth with a final line of 9 strikeouts, 3 walks, 2 hits, and just the lone earned run. He gave way to Adrian Rodriguez who tossed a shutout frame – striking out the side in the process. Jesus Gamez repeated the feat in the top of the 7th, marking the 4th instance of a 3 strikeout inning on the night and the 3rd where the side was struck out.
At the end of the day, 7 innings was not enough and this game went to the 8th with Jesus Gamez still on the bump. He got the leadoff man to pop up to short before intentionally walking Arias. That backfired as Center Fielder Nelly Taylor Jr doubled to the right field corner to score the ghost runner Justin Riemer, giving Greenville their first lead of the series. Gamez fanned the next 2 hitters to strand 2 in scoring position, but the offense would have some work to do trailing 2-1 heading to the home half of the frame.
That Greenville lead lasted 4 pitches as Dylan Dreiling blooped a double inside the left field line to trade places with ghost runner John Taylor and tie the game at 2. Casey Cook was intentionally walked to follow, but the next three went down in order to force a 9th inning.
Kai Wynyard made some deja vu happen when he came on to start the frame, giving up a double to the first batter of the frame – 3rd baseman Antonio Anderson, scoring ghost runner Johanfran Garcia and putting the Drive back in front. After striking out Freili Encarnacion, Wynyard walked the next 2 to load the bases, ending his night. He was replaced by Victor Simeon, who got a pop up to short and a ground ball to third to get out of the jam.
Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the Burgers left ghost runner Maxton Martin on third, going down anticlimactically on a Ben Hartl swinging strikeout. Greenville won this round 3-2 and reclaimed sole possession of first place and the 2nd playoff spot by 1 game.
Hub City will take a crack at breaking back even on Thursday night at 6:35. Pitching matchups are yet to be determined.
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