‘Birds Fall Behind Early, Never Recover in Loss to Hillcats

SALISBURY, MD - The Delmarva Shorebirds failed to contain a lethal Lynchburg Hillcats attack in a 10-3 loss on Tuesday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

The night began well enough for the Shorebirds (39-26) as Brandon Young retired the first two he faced on the mound, but it was all Hillcats (32-33) the rest of the way.

With two outs in the first, Lynchburg pounced as Yainer Diaz doubled setting up Jhonkensky Noel to knock him in with a single for the first run in the game.

In the second, Gabriel Rodriguez doubled to begin the frame. After back-to-back strikeouts, Christian Cairo floated a single to left, scoring Rodriguez, with Cairo taking second on the throw home. Petey Halpin then hit a fly ball to right that dropped in thanks to an error, scoring Cairo, and allowing Halpin to race to second. After a walk to Angel Martinez, Diaz ripped his second double of the game, scoring both Halpin and Martinez, to put Lynchburg up 5-0. Noel then stepped to the plate and hit a missile out to left, his sixth of the season, capping the six-run frame with Lynchburg up 7-0.

The Hillcats tacked on two more in the third thanks to another RBI single from Cairo and an RBI double from Halpin to make it 9-0.

The Shorebirds got on the board in the third thanks to a solo homer from Lamar Sparks, his third of the campaign, trimming it to a 9-1 deficit.

A sacrifice fly from Johnathan Rodriguez plated another Lynchburg run in the fifth, capping the Hillcats scoring at 10 for the contest.

The Shorebirds scored the final two runs of the contest, a Jean Carmona RBI single in the sixth and a Sparks RBI groundout in the seventh, but came up well short, falling 10-3.

Jamie Arias (5-2) earned the win for the Hillcats with a sterling start. Arias punched out 10 over 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs on three hits and a walk.

Brandon Young (3-1) suffered his first loss of the year for the Shorebirds, lasting just 1.2 innings in his start while conceding seven runs (two earned) on six hits and one walk while striking out three.

In his Delmarva debut, Craig Lewis went 2-for-4 with two doubles. Sparks continued his recent power surge, swatting his third homer while driving in two to lead the Delmarva attack.

In his first game off the injured list, Noel made his impact immediately felt for the Hillcats, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer. Diaz formed a dynamic punch in the middle of the order with Noel, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and two doubles.

The Shorebirds and Hillcats now duke it out twice on Wednesday, July 21, in a doubleheader at Perdue Stadium. Game one of the twin bill is slated to pit Shane Davis (4-3, 6.33) for Delmarva against Brauny Munoz (0-1, 8.36) for Lynchburg while game two features Adam Stauffer (3-2, 2.67) for the Shorebirds against Liam Jenkins (3-0, 5.17) for the Hillcats. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning at 4:50 on MiLB.TV and Fox Sports 960 AM with Sam Jellinek on the call.

ABOUT THE DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS
The Delmarva Shorebirds were founded in 1996 and have been the Class-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles since 1997. The Shorebirds have won two South Atlantic League championships in 1997 and 2000 and were named the MiLB.com Minor League Team of the Year in 2019 after going 90-48 in the regular season. Based in Salisbury, Maryland, the Shorebirds are proud to represent the entire Delmarva Peninsula and have hosted two SAL All-Star Games in 1999 and 2011. The Shorebirds are owned by 7th Inning Stretch, LP, based in Stockton, California headed by Chairman Tom Volpe and President Pat Filippone.