Crawdads' pitchers combine on two-hit shutout of Hoppers

HICKORY ― Right-hander Nick Krauth and two relievers combined on on two-hit shutout, leading the Hickory Crawdads to a 3-0 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers at L.P. Frans Stadium on Friday night.

Krauth (1-1) struck out five in six innings. Joe Corbett struck out four in two innings, and Marc Church retired all three batters he faced in the ninth inning for his second save.

Hickory's Evan Carter, a 19-year-old outfielder rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 9 prospect in Texas' farm system, hit a two-run home run in the fourth innings. Keyber Rodriguez added a solo shot in the fifth, and the Crawdads' bullpen took care of the rest.

Losing pitcher Sean Sullivan (0-1) worked four innings and gave up both home runs, taking the loss.

Matt Gorski and Ernny Ordonez had singles to account for Greensboro's hits.

Ordoñez, who hit a grand slam in Thursday's game, went 1-for-2 with a walk.

NOTES

• The low-scoring game was played in 1 hour and 58 minutes.
• Greensboro's Hudson Head, who has an eight-game hitting streak, got the night off. The 21-year-old outfielder, rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 22 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, has reached base in 13 of his last 14 games.
• First baseman Jacob Gonzalez also got the day off. The 23-year-old son of former big-league All-Sar Luis Gonzalez homered in his first two games with the Hoppers, and he is 7-for-11 (.636) with five RBIs in three games. ... Gonzalez batted .393 with 11 doubles, four home runs and 16 RBIs in 24 games for the Bradenton Marauders before his promotion to Greensboro. He was a second-round pick of the San Francisco Giants in 2017, turning pro right out of high school, and is in his fifth minor-league season.
• Center fielder Matt Gorski went 1-for-4 and is batting .268. Gorski leads the South Atlantic League with 24 runs scored. Gorski ranks third in the league in both home runs (8) and RBIs (25). Gorski also leads the Hoppers in stolen bases (9). Gorski has hits in four straight games and eight of his last 10. He has been on base in 27 of 29 games played so far this season.
• Hoppers left-hander Tyler Samaniego made his 10th appearance of the season and retired all three batters he faced, lowering his ERA to 0.73. He has struck out 16 in 12 1/3 innings and held opponents to an .071 batting average.