ZEBULON, N.C. - Jordan Yamamoto turned in another gem while striking out seven over seven scoreless frames in a 1-0 victory versus the Pelicans in front of 4,814 at Five County Stadium on Sunday night. Monte Harrison drove in the only run of the game and Nate Griep earned his
ZEBULON, N.C. - Jordan Yamamoto turned in another gem while striking out seven over seven scoreless frames in a 1-0 victory versus the Pelicans in front of 4,814 at Five County Stadium on Sunday night. Monte Harrison drove in the only run of the game and Nate Griep earned his league leading 30th save as the Mudcats won their sixth straight game.
Yamamoto (9-4, 2.51) struck out seven, walked one and scattered seven hits for the Mudcats (72-65, 36-33) in the series clinching (3-0) victory. He finished the quality outing with a 73 game score and worked through seven complete frames on 105 pitches (68 strikes). Yamamoto also worked through his third straight scoreless start and stretched his consecutive innings scoreless streak to 21.1 over his last four starts.
The Pelicans (73-66, 30-39) did threaten to take the lead several times over the course of Sunday's game in Zebulon. P.J. Higgins doubled and reached third in the first, but was left there as Yamamoto worked out of the opening frame unscathed. Myrtle Beach left one in the first, stranded one more in the third, left the bases loaded in the fifth and left one on in the seventh. They finished the game 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
The only run of Sunday's game came in the sixth when reliever Dakota Mekkes gave up a RBI single to Harrison. Jose Cuas started the Carolina sixth with a double to left and later scored from third on Harrison's RBI knock to put the Mudcats up 1-0.
Mekkes (5-2, 1.28) allowed a run and two hits in the sixth and took the loss. Relievers Scott Effross and Pedro Araujo followed Mekkes and combined for two scoreless frames and three strikeouts over the final two innings.
Rehabbing Major Leaguer Alec Mills started for Myrtle Beach and ended up going through five scoreless frames with just one hit allowed. He also struck out five and needed 72 pitches (48 strikes) to get through his outing.
Eric Hanhold (H, 5) followed Yamamoto and worked through a scoreless eighth before Griep (S, 30) came on for the ninth to finish the game. Griep walked a couple in the final frame, but ended up leaving a man on while adding one more save to his single season Mudcats record.
The Mudcats managed just three hits in the victory, but took a 3-0 lead in the four game set and stretched their winning streak to a season best six straight games.
UP NEXT: The Mudcats will finish the season on Monday afternoon with Kodi Medeiros getting the final start of the 2017 campaign. Monday's Labor Day game will begin at 12:00 p.m. at Five County Stadium. The game will air on the Mudcats Radio Network, The Big Dawg 98.5 FM and online at carolinamudcats.com via TuneIn Radio. The game will also stream live via video on MiLB.tv.
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