Mudcats Drop Second Straight 4-1 in Myrtle Beach

MYRTLE BEACH, SC - Trever Morrison doubled and tripled, Pat McInerney had his second straight multi-hit game and Phil Bickford pitched through two and 2/3 scoreless inning in relief, but the Mudcats lost their second straight to the Pelicans 4-1 on Wednesday night in Myrtle Beach.

Carolina (23-35, 62-65) led first at 1-0 after Morrison tripled and scored on a sac fly from Wes Rogers in the third. The triple was the first of two extra-base hits in the game for Morrison as he went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and a run while hitting ninth for Carolina.
The Pelicans (31-27, 62-65) quickly answered in the bottom of the third with a run against Carolina's starter Matt Smith to tie the game 1-1. That run came across when Delvin Zinn started the inning with a walk, stole second and scored on a single to right-center from Grant Fennell.
Mitchell broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth after connecting on a two-run home run off Smith (L, 4-11, 3.65) as the Pelicans went up 3-1. The homer was Mitchell's 13th of the season and his first of two hits in the game for Mitchell as he went 2-for-4 with two RBI while hitting ninth for the Pelicans.
Smith ended up with the loss in what was the middle game of the three game series. He allowed Fennell's game tying hit in the third and Mitchell's homer in the fourth while allowing three runs overall on six hits over three and 1/3 innings. The fourth inning homer knocked Smith out of the game and ran his streak of consecutive starts with a home run allowed to four straight. Smith also walked two and struck out while reaching 73 pitches (46 strikes).
Bickford, meanwhile, first entered the game out of the bullpen in the fourth after Smith was removed. Bickford went on to work through two and 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts, a walk and two hits allowed. His scoreless effort ran his current scoreless innings streak to 21 and 2/3 consecutive innings. Bickford has also totaled 31 strikeouts (12.9 SO/9) and six walks during the streak.
Relievers J.T. Hintzen and Michael Peteresn pitched the final two innings for the Mudcats, with Hintzen working a scoreless eighth and Petersen allowing a run and one hit in the ninth.
Jeffrey Passantino (W, 2-1, 2.10) started and earned the win for the Pelicans after holding Carolina to a run and four hits while totaling five strikeouts over five innings pitched in his start. Relievers Ryan Lawlor and Ethan Roberts followed with Lawlor (H, 2) tossing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and Roberts (S, 4) striking out three while earning his fourth save.
Like Mitchell, Jhonny Bethencourt and Fennell both had multi-hit games for the Pelicans with Bethencourt going 3-for-3 with a run, a double and a RBI. Fennell, meanwhile, went 2-for-4 with a RBI as well.
The loss dropped Carolina to 2-3 in its current road trip. It also dropped them to 6-8 against the Pelicans this season overall. The series, with the Pelicans leading 2-0, will conclude on Thursday night at TicketReturn.com Field in Myrtle Beach.
The game will begin at 7:05 p.m. in Myrtle Beach and will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio.
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