Francis Allows Two Homers in 4-2 Loss to Nationals

ZEBULON, N.C. - Bowden Francis pitched through a quality start and Ryan Aguilar had a RBI triple, but the Nationals homered twice in the fifth while taking the rubber game of a three game series 4-2 at Five County Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The Mudcats (59-65, 25-29) led first in Sunday's series finale, but failed to hold on midway through as the Nationals (65-56, 28-26) scored three runs on homers from Rhett Wiseman and Telmito Agustin in the fifth while breaking a 1-1 tie and taking a 3-1 lead. The road win lifted the Nationals to a two games to one series win over Carolina. 
Francis (0-2, 7.84) began his outing by pitching through four no-hit frames before allowing the two Potomac home runs in the fifth. Wiseman's home run to start the fifth was the first hit allowed by Francis and it tied the game at 1-1. Agustin then broke that tie two batters later when he followed a walk with a two-run homer of his own.
The two home run and three run fifth gave the Nationals a 3-1 lead and accounted for all of the scoring allowed by Francis in Sunday's series finale. Francis pitched through the sixth and allowed three runs on four hits while turning in a quality start for the Mudcats. He also walked two and struck out two as he reached 79 pitches (50 strikes) in the loss.
Carolina trailed 3-1 through the sixth, but later rallied for a two-out run in the seventh to pull within one after Aguilar came through with a run scoring triple to right. Aguilar's triple was his ninth of the season (tying him with Buies Creek's Osvaldo Duarte for the Carolina League lead) and brought in Cooper Hummel after he had walked earlier in the inning. 
The Mudcats were down just one heading into the eighth, but Potomac's Tres Berrera walked and scored from second on a two-out RBI single to center from Wiseman to give the Nationals their 4-2 lead. Wiseman finished the game going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a home run.
Nathan Kirby pitched the seventh for Carolina and allowed just the one seventh inning run before working through a scoreless eighth. Kirby struck out two, walked two and allowed a run on two hits over his two inning relief appearance. Luke Barker later pitched the ninth and finished with a strikeout and a walk.
Potomac's Ben Braymer sealed the series clinching win for the Nationals as he pitched through the final three innings while earning his first save of the season. Braymer walked two, struck out one and allowed a run on one hit in his three inning outing.
The loss dropped Carolina to four games below .500 in the second half and lowered their elimination number to seven with 14 games remaining in the season. The Mudcats are off on Monday, August 20, but return to action versus the Astros on Tuesday night at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek. 
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