Asheville hands Greensboro its first loss with a thrilling win

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Baseballs flew all over First National Bank Field and beyond on Wednesday afternoon, as the Asheville Tourists downed the Greensboro Grasshoppers 8-7.

While Tuesday’s game featured a pitcher’s duel, both the Tourists (2-3) and Grasshoppers (4-1) flexed their muscles today, registering five home runs and 16 hits combined.

Opening the scoring in the third inning, Chase Call put the ball over the fence first with a solo shot to left field. Later in the frame, after a second run had scored from an error, Jason Schiavone went deep to right field, making it a 4-0 game.

The tides momentarily turned in the fifth inning. Greensboro trailed 4-1 with two outs and the bases loaded from a trio of walks, and Axiel Plaz hit the team’s second homer of the day to center field, making it a 5-4 game from his grand slam.

It was a seesaw contest from then on. Asheville gained the edge once more in the sixth thanks to an Alberto Hernandez fielder’s choice RBI and Caden Powell's run-scoring double.

The Grasshoppers leveled the score in the seventh inning. Then, Asheville’s Justin Thomas Jr. launched the final home run of the day to left-center field in the eighth inning, plating two runs off Victor Cabreja (L, 0-1) to decide the game.

On the hill, Andrew Taylor and Yeriel Santos (W, 1-0) had strong days, totaling seven innings and allowing just two runs with 10 strikeouts.

Eurys Martich (S, 1) pitched the ninth. He walked the first four men he faced, allowing a run to score, and fell behind to the fifth batter before earning a strikeout. The righty then rolled a double play to end the contest.

With the series even at one, Game 3 occurs on Thursday with a 6:30 p.m. ET first pitch.