Suns clinch playoff spot despite series loss at Asheville

ASHEVILLE, NC - The Hagerstown Suns (41-25, 85-51) dropped the rubber game of a three-game series against the Asheville Tourists (46-20, 87-48) on Thursday night 4-3. Despite the loss Hagerstown still managed to clinch a playoff birth for the third consecutive season on Thursday thanks to the Lakewood BlueClaws 3-0 win over the Hickory Crawdads.

 

Thursday's game between the Suns and Tourists was the third one-run game of the series. Asheville came back from a 3-2 deficit by plating a run each in the seventh and eighth. RHP Manny Rodriguez (0-1) allowed the run in the eighth, and thus was charged with the loss. He threw 1.1 innings for Hagerstown, giving up the one earned run on two hits and one walk. RHP Matt Pierpont (3-0) got credit for the win for Asheville. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, surrendering one hit and one walk while striking out two. RHP Trent Blank pitched the ninth for the Tourists to record his fourth save of the season. In total Asheville used five pitchers in the contest.

 

In the second game of the series on Wednesday night Hagerstown scored a run each in the first and second inning, and then never surrendered the lead as the Suns held on for a 3-2 win. Asheville had the potential tying run at second base in the bottom of the ninth, but with two outs LHP David Napoli entered the game and he got CF Max White to ground out to first to end the ballgame. As a result Napoli notched his sixth save of the season in seven chances. RHP Wander Suero (4-1) started for the Suns and earned the win. He threw six innings, giving up one unearned run on three hits and one walk while striking out seven. RHP Johendi Jiminian (13-6) suffered the loss for the Tourists. He pitched seven innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out six. 

 

In game one of the series on Tuesday night the Tourists walked-off with a 5-4 win in 10 innings. It was only the second extra-inning loss for the Suns all season, and the first since April. The winning run crossed the plate following a sacrifice fly to right field by 2B Cesar Galvez. The run was scored against RHP Sam Johns (3-1) for the Suns, and thus he suffered the loss. He pitched just 0.2 innings, giving up the one run on one hit and one walk. RHP Carlos Estevez (1-3) threw a scoreless top of the tenth to earn the win for Asheville. Prior to the sacrifice fly by Galvez neither team had scored since the sixth inning.

 

Asheville outscored Hagerstown 11-10 over the course of the series, and the Tourists out-hit the Suns 23-15. The Suns next head home to Municipal Stadium to begin a four-game series with the BlueClaws (24-40, 51-82), which starts on Friday, August 29. RHP Robbie Dickey (1-0) will make his second start and appearance of the season for Hagerstown. He will square off against RHP Yacksel Rios (6-1) for Lakewood. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 7:05pm.