FredNat comeback thwarted by weather in 6-3 loss at Delmarva
SALISBURY, MD - The Fredericksburg Nationals (5-5, 35-40) watched a potential ninth-inning rally get washed away by weather in a 6-0 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds (3-7, 30-46) on Tuesday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium. Long before the rain and lightning swung through Salisbury, the Shorebirds swatted the ball
SALISBURY, MD - The Fredericksburg Nationals (5-5, 35-40) watched a potential ninth-inning rally get washed away by weather in a 6-0 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds (3-7, 30-46) on Tuesday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
Long before the rain and lightning swung through Salisbury, the Shorebirds swatted the ball early for a 6-0 lead against Xander Meckley. Delmarva’s first two hitters reached and its first run came on an RBI single from Elis Cuevas to go ahead 1-0. Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, Joshua Liranzo launched a soaring fly ball over the left field fence for a grand slam to make it 5-0 in the game’s first inning.
The Shorebirds added another run in the second inning, as Yasmil Bucce drove a shot to the opposite field for a solo home run. Bucce’s seventh homer of the season boosted the Delmarva lead to 6-0.
Meanwhile, the FredNat offense went quiet early and stayed silent through the game’s first eight innings. Shorebird starter Jacob Cravey tossed six scoreless innings against the FredNat bats before exiting the game with seven strikeouts. The FredNat bullpen matched Delmarva, as Ryan Minckler, Matt Bollenbacher and Kevin Dowdell fired 4.1 scoreless frames of their own
That meant the game was still 6-0 heading to the ninth and the FredNats finally got something cooking. Christian Vaquero, Kelvin Diaz and Nick Peoples all singled ahead of Kevin Bazzell, who came up with one out. Bazzell was promptly hit with a high fastball to score the first FredNat run. Then, Roismar Quintana stepped up and tagged a high drive off of the left field wall to score two more runs and cut the deficit to 6-3.
Randal Diaz came up next as the game’s tying run and tapped a single to load the bases, fully opening a window for the FredNats to tie the game or even take the lead with the top of the order coming up. That’s when lightning struck, thunder clapped and the rain began to drench the field. The weather did not let up and the game was called, becoming official and nullifiying a situation where the FredNats had the go-ahead run at the plate with just one out.
Cravey (5-4) got the win, as Meckley (4-6) got the loss. The FredNats will look to bounce back in the series, with Davian Garcia (3-2, 3.05) on the mound in a 7:05 start.