Pitching is Key in Series-Opening Win

COLUMBIA, SC - The Fireflies opened up a pivotal series against Augusta with a win on Tuesday night. The Southern Division leaders rolled into the Palmetto State's capital winners of five of their last six. Columbia used dominant pitching to smush the GreenJackets momentum with a 2-1 victory at Segra Park.
The Fireflies are now two games behind Augusta (17-15, 53-47) and Rome for first place. A sweep of the GreenJackets this week could totally transform the remainder of Columbia's (15-17, 39-59) season. That is, if the club can replicate what its pitchers did on the slope on Tuesday. Simeon Woods-Richardson (W, 3-8) hurled five scoreless innings and picked up his third win of the year. Bryce Hutchinson followed his lead with 2.2 shut-out frames while closer Allan Winans (S, 7) recorded his second straight four-out save.
Woods-Richardson allowed only four hits on Tuesday. He fanned seven and didn't walk anyone. Over his last nine starts, the Mets prospect owns the league's fourth-lowest ERA (2.09). Woods-Richardson is also 3-2 with 53 strikeouts next to just 10 walks in those 43.0 innings of work.
What's most notable is how Woods-Richardson finished his start. The right-hander struck out the side in the fifth, his final inning of work.
Hutchinson punched out three as well. Winans, meanwhile, is now 7-for-7 in save chances. All seven of his saves have come in the second half of the season.
The Fireflies first got on the board in the home third. Gerson Molina kicked the inning off with a double pulled just inside the third-base bag and down the line. Moments later, Walter Rasquin flew out to right, but Molina was aggressive and tagged and scurried to third. 
This proved important because Molina scored on a wild pitch thrown by Augusta starter Keith Weisenberg (L, 1-2). 
Two frames later, the home team scored again. It was Molina who reached base once more, this time on a walk. Soon enough, reliever Logan Webb allowed the bases to load after he walked Ronny Mauricio . Molina tagged and scored from third on Mark Vientos' deep fly ball to centerfield. The sacrifice fly gave the Mets prospect his team-best 50th RBI of the season. 
Augusta scored its lone run in the top of the ninth when pinch-runner Simon Whiteman scored from third base on a wild pitch.
The Fireflies won with just three hits. Shervyen Newton and Carlos Sanchez were the two other Columbia hitters to tally hits on Tuesday.
The second game of the series is scheduled for 7:05 ET on Wednesday at Segra Park. Right-hander Willy Taveras (5-8, 5.23) is set to throw for the Fireflies and face southpaw Seth Corry (6-2, 2.09) for the GreenJackets.
You can watch the action on MiLB.TV.