Late Rally Not Enough as Nats Lose 6-4

SALISBURY, MD - Fredericksburg rallied to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in ninth inning, but Delmarva escaped with a 6-4 victory. The Nats are now 12-7, and the Shorebirds improved to 3-15.

After being shut out through the first three games of the series, Delmarva got on the board first in game four. Angel Tejada opened the bottom of the second with a single, then Aron Estrada followed with an RBI double into the left field corner, to give the Shorebirds a 1-0 lead. Estrada had moved to third base on the throw to the plate, so he was in position to score when Stiven Acevedo grounded out.

Jarlin Susana settled in after those two runs, and went on to complete four innings, with a season-best seven strikeouts and just one walk.

Shorebird starter Luis De Leon befuddled the FredNat lineup from the jump. The southpaw breezed through the first five innings, allowing just a pair of base runners on a walk and a single. But in the top of the sixth, Phillip Glasser reached on an E3. Cristhian Vaquero then rolled a ball back to De Leon, but he airmailed the throw to first base, and Glasser scored all the way from first base to cut the Delmarva lead to 2-1.

Delmarva got that run back in the bottom of the frame as Stiven Acevedo stole third and scored when the throw sailed into left field. Acevedo then extended the lead to 5-1 with his two-run double in the seventh inning. Brylin Tavera added another run in the eighth, on an RBI single to make it 6-1 ‘Birds going into the top of the ninth.

Fredericksburg got their rally started with a leadoff single from Gavin Dugas, followed by an infield single for Roismar Quintana. Jose Colmenares then reached on a fielder’s choice with no out recorded, loading the bases with no outs. Brenner Cox brought one run home with his groundout, before a wild pitch allowed another run to score and trim the deficit to 6-3. Armando Cruz made it 6-4 with a sacrifice fly, but that left the Nationals down to their last out with no base runners. However, Nate Ochoa and Tyler Baca each singled, to bring Phillip Glasser up to the plate as the go-ahead run. He fell behind 0-2, before ultimately grounding out to shortstop and giving the Shorebirds a 6-4 win. Luis De Leon (1-2) got the win, and Jarlin Susana (0-3) suffered the loss.

In game five, Marc Davis (0-0, 5.19) gets the ball for FXBG against Michael Forret (2-1, 3.46) for a 7:05 start.