Burgers Smash Tourists

Last night, the Hub City offense went quiet after the first inning and squandered a few big opportunities before Asheville made it lopsided over the middle innings in what would become a 13-3 loss despite the Burgers’ bullpen hanging four consecutive zeroes to finish the game.

Neither side would have much time to rest on their laurels or dwell on it with an 11:05 first pitch for game two of the series in which J’Briell Easley (0-0, 4.01 ERA) would go against Asheville right hander Yeriel Santos (2-2, 5.94) to try and make the rebound happen for the Burgers.

Both pitchers carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning, but it was far from a perfect game. Santos had the rougher go of it, walking three and hitting two batters over the course of the first three frames.

In spite of all that, the Burger bats could not do any damage, mustering just one run on a sacrifice fly to the deepest part of the yard from Esteban Mejia after loading the bases with no out in the bottom of the second. That is — until the bottom of the fourth.

Ben Hartl started the inning by taking a hit by pitch square off his elbow guard. Chandler Pollard followed it with a single, and with two out, Yeison Morrobel pulled a screaming liner on a 2-1 pitch into the home bullpen for a three-run shot. Maxton Martin kept the line moving with a double that Hector Osorio followed with a two-run shot off the video board in right center, stretching the lead to 6-0. After a single from Quincy Scott, Santos was taken down.

A stolen base, wild pitch, and a walk to Antonis Macias later, Hartl lined out to right to end a five-spot for the Burgers. In the interim, Easley pitched four scoreless innings, striking out and walking one with one hit. He gave way to piggybacker Brock Porter in the fifth, who struck out two to work around a two out single before Hub City’s offense turned it into a blowout in the bottom half of the frame.

Mejia followed a leadoff triple from Pollard with a two-run homer. After a Carter Garate two-bagger, Yeison Morrobel added to his RBI total with a single to give him four before Maxton Martin kept the train rolling with a two-run homer.

After Asheville finally recorded an out, Scott reached on a two-base fielding error on the shortstop, and following a walk to Antonis Macias and Ben Hartl’s third hit by pitch of the day, capped the six-spot when he came home on a fielder’s choice where Hartl was forced at second and Pollard reached, making for a 12-0 Spartanburgers lead through five.

Porter continued to hang goose eggs, eventually parting after four innings with two hits and just as many walks as well as four hits to get the win in relief. The Hub City offense hung another four spot in the bottom of the eighth, upping the ante to a new franchise single-game record for runs scored, taking a 21-0 lead to the ninth.

Anthony Susac closed it out with a scoreless ninth in spite of a one out walk to Jack Moss. Now, with the series evened, the Burgers (29-29) will look to go over .500 tomorrow night as Kamdyn Perry (0-0, 2.00 ERA) will make his third start of the season in his Fifth Third Park debut. First pitch is set for 6:35 PM.