Markey unhittable for seven for Pelicans

Though it was nearly undone by Mother Nature, Brad Markey's impressive start led the Pelicans to victory.

The Cubs righty took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Pin-Chieh Chen went 3-for-5 with two RBIs to help Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach even its Carolina League semifinals series with a 4-3 win over Winston-Salem in Game 2 on Thursday night.

Markey ultimately held the Dash to an unearned run on one hit and a walk over eight innings. Both teams will look to advance to the Carolina League's Mills Cup Finals on Friday in Game 3.

"Fastball, curveball were setting each other up, based on what I saw hitters do in previous games," Markey said. "That allowed me to know when to throw my fastball and when to throw the curve, and if I had to switch anything up. And just charting having scouting reports helped me as well."

The 23-year-old had allowed just one baserunner through seven innings when No. 28 White Sox prospect Keon Barnum led off the frame with a double off the wall in left-center field. The Dash scored later that inning when Nolan Earley reached on shortstop Gleyber Torres' fielding error, allowing Barnum to come home.

"The first pitch I threw [to Barnum], I thought 'I have to come back and get the next one,'" said Markey. "I threw him a curveball that stayed up, I was hoping it would break down a little more, but right off the bat, I thought it was a little flare to the outfield. And then I saw it kept drifting and drifting. Once it landed, my next thought was I'm not going to let him score. But the no-hitter was over, so I moved on quickly."

Things got interesting in the ninth when Michael Heesch came on in relief of Markey and loaded the bases with nobody out. With rain beginning to fall, Pelicans manager Mark Johnson quickly yanked Heesch in favor of Jasvir Rakkar, but strong winds and heavy rain forced the umpires to call for the tarp before another pitch was thrown. The game was delayed about three hours.

When play resumed, sixth-ranked White Sox prospect Trey Michalczewski and Barnum plated runs with RBI groundouts, but Pelicans righty David Berg fanned Nick Basto to earn the save.

The Pelicans took the lead in the third on Jason Vosler's RBI single. Chen added a run-scoring double in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth, and Chesny Young also contributed a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Winston-Salem Dash manager Tim Esmay was ejected by home plate umpire Skyler Shown in the sixth after Young's hit.

In other Carolina playoff action:

Lynchburg-Wilmington, ppd