Preview: Doubleheader deluge begins

Today's Preview: The Grasshoppers (A, Marlins) continue their most strenuous stretch of the season as they play Games 2 and 3 of this 6-games-in-4-days series vs. the Crawdads (A, Rangers) at First National Bank Field. The back-to-back doubleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday are the result of an April 7 rainout in Greensboro as well as an April 26 rainout in Hickory. With Wednesday's doubleheader starting at 12pm, the Hoppers and Crawdads are slated to play four games in 24 hours.
Hoppers Hurlers: Dustin Beggs, 24, makes his third start and 12th appearance of the season in Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader, facing Hickory for the first time in 2018. Last year against the Crawdads, Beggs went 2-1 with a 3.71 ERA (7 ER/17.0 IP) and 11 strikeouts in four games (four starts). In his two starts this year, he has thrown 8.2 scoreless innings, striking out nine and walking two. As a reliever, he is 2-0 with a 4.95 ERA (11 ER/20.0 IP) and 26 strikeouts. In his second outing of the year, Beggs matched his career-high with eight strikeouts in a 3.0-inning relief appearance on April 27 at Asheville. He spent all of 2017 with Greensboro in the starting rotation, going 10-6 with a 3.86 ERA (64 ER/149.1 IP) and 107 strikeouts in 26 games (26 starts). Miami selected Beggs in the 16th round of the June 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Kentucky.
Going In Game 2: Nestor Bautista, 26, makes his first start of the year and first since the 2015 season. Bautista, who has not faced Hickory this season, is 1-0 with a 0.79 ERA (1 ER/11.1 IP) and 12 strikeouts in six games at home compared to posting a 5.00 ERA (10 ER/18.0 IP) and 20 strikeouts in eight road outings. Bautista is coming off a season-long-tying 3.2 innings of work, allowing a run on three hits, on June 7 at Delmarva. His most recent start came in his finale outing of 2015, a Sept. 4 with Batavia at State College when he tossed 4.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits. He worked a career-long 6.0 innings with the GCL Marlins in a scoreless outing against the GCL Mets on Aug. 15, 2014. The Marlins selected Bautista in the 32nd round of the June 2014 First-Year Player draft out of Ball State.
Last Time Out: Catcher Will Allen drove in a career-high four runs and finished a triple shy of the cycle, but the Grasshoppers fell short in an 8-7 loss to the Hickory Crawdads on Monday night at First National Bank Field. Greensboro (29-32) and Hickory traded the lead in the middle innings until the Crawdads broke a tie game in the top of the eighth. Allen finished 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, four RBI, and two runs scored. Greensboro scored three runs in the second inning when Allen smacked a 2-run double, scoring J.C. Millan and Baranek before coming home on a Garvis Lara base hit. Hickory responded with a 5-run fourth inning highlighted by Yonny Hernandez's bases-clearing triple. With the Crawdads ahead 5-3 going into the bottom of the fourth, the Grasshoppers tied the game on Allen's 2-run home run (2). Greensboro pulled ahead, 6-5, in the fifth when Thomas Jones stole home on a perfectly-executed double-steal, with Devers swiping secod base. Hickory tied the game in the top of the sixth when Ryan Dorow doubled, driving in Hernandez and Pedro Gonzalez for a 7-6 lead. The Hoppers tied the game, 7-7, in home half of the sixth when Micah Brown scored on a Lara groundout.Greensboro reliever Michael Mertz plunked Sam Huff to open the eighth inning, and the Crawdads catcher eventually came around to score on a Gonzalez base hit for a late lead, 8-7. Jean Casanova (2-3) earned the win, tossing 2 and 2/3 scoreless relief innings while striking out six and walking one. Mertz (0-3) took the loss, allowing a run on two hits over 2 and 1/3 innings. Hickory's Alex Speas tossed a scoreless ninth for the save (6). Hoppers starter Ryan Lillie started off strong with three scoreless innings before giving up the big frame in the fourth. He finished with seven runs allowed (five earned) on eight hits in 5 and 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking two.
Hoppin' Thieves: Greensboro stole a season-high five bases on Monday against Hickory, with a season-high two players recording multiple swiped bags in a game. Both Cameron Baranek and Thomas Jones stole two bases while Jose Devers added one. The highlight of the game came on a well-executed double-steal as Devers broke for second base, inducing a throw from Crawdads catcher Sam Huff, allowing Jones to break from third and slide head first across the plate. The Grasshoppers' previous season-high was three stolen bases, accomplished three times in 2018.
Do It Like Devers: After hitting two triples in a game on Friday, Hoppers shortstop Jose Devers continued his strong weekend at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI on Saturday. Through Monday, the 18-year-old infielder has hit safely in seven straight games since June 5, batting .433 (13-30) with a double, two triples, four RBI, and three runs scored in that span. He has also upped his season average from .250 to .276 during this stretch. In 21 games at First National Bank Field, Devers is batting .308 (28-91) compared to .253 (22-87) in 22 road games.

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