Bullpen Falls Apart Late in 7-4 Loss to Delmarva

SALISBURY, MD - Despite taking an early lead Friday night against the Delmarva Shorebirds (29-17, 77-38), the Kannapolis Intimidators (24-23, 52-63) bullpen surrendered five combined runs in the seventh and eighth frames to drop the game, 7-4, at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.
In the top of the second inning, the Intimidators struck first. Gunnar Troutwine doubled and scored Cam Simmons to take the 1-0 lead. Ramon Beltre then singled and drove in Tyler Osik to extend the lead, 3-0.
The Shorebirds got one run back in the bottom of the third when Adam Hall singled and drove in a run. In their next frame in the bottom of the fourth, JC Encarnacion drove in another run on a force out to cut the Kannapolis lead to 3-2.
Davis Martin's day came to an end after that inning. He went four innings, gave up three hits, just one earned run, and struck out five while walking three. J.B. Olson came in for relief of Martin.
Romy Gonzalez continued to rack up the RBI's in the top of the fifth when he drove in Ian Dawkins and pushed the lead back up to 4-2.
Olson had a solid outing on the mound as well for Kannapolis. He went two innings, allowed just one hit, and struck out three as the Intimidators headed into the seventh with the lead still.
That's when things started falling apart for Kannapolis. Lane Ramsey came in for the seventh inning. Another double from Hall allowed Delmarva to cut their deficit to one run. A Zach Watson sac fly then drove in Hall to tie things at 4-4.
That was Ramsey's only inning, and Declan Cronin (L, 0-1) came in for the eighth inning. A single and a triple on back-to-back batters for the Shorebirds broke the tie and gave them a 7-4 lead over the Intimidators.
Kannapolis will continue their series with Delmarva on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. Jason Bilous (5-6, 3.02 ERA) will be on the bump for the Intimidators against Grayson Rodriguez (8-3, 2.87 ERA) of the Shorebirds.