Despite Mother Nature spreading game one of the five-game series out to two days, the Greensboro Grasshoppers came out victorious, 7-2, over the Intimidators Sunday evening in Kannapolis.With Yosmer Solorzano (L, 3-8) and Trevor Rogers (W, 2-5) getting the start for day one of the two-day affair, both pitchers started
Despite Mother Nature spreading game one of the five-game series out to two days, the Greensboro Grasshoppers came out victorious, 7-2, over the Intimidators Sunday evening in Kannapolis.
With Yosmer Solorzano (L, 3-8) and Trevor Rogers (W, 2-5) getting the start for day one of the two-day affair, both pitchers started out on fire. Both Solorzano and Rogers allowed only one hit through the first three innings, as Solorzano picked up three strikeouts through those three frames.
In the fourth, Greensboro's Chris Torres walked to lead off the inning for Solorzano, as Thomas Jones singled on a line drive to right field, putting runners at first and second with no out. Next up, Jhonny Santos walked to load the base, followed by a groundout to Tate Blackman at third base, allowing Torres to scurry home for the game's first run.
In the bottom half of the fourth, Steele Walker led off with a double on a 3-2 pitch into right field with Craig Dedelow following Walker's hit with a single, putting runners at the corners for Blackman. On a 2-2 pitch, Blackman drove a ball to deep-center, bringing in Walker for the tying run.
After a clean fifth inning from both starters, Garvis Lara, Torres, and Santos all reached with one out for the Grasshoppers, bringing up Jerar Encarnacion. With raining starting to drizzle on the field, Encarnacion walked on five pitches to bring in a run for Greensboro, putting the 'Hoppers up 2-1.
After a mound visit from Jose Bauitista, Isael Soto cranked a grand slam for his tenth homer of the season way over the fence in right field, putting Greensboro up 5-1 against the I's and Solorzano. After the grand slam, manager Justin Jirschele called for Bennett Sousa out of the bullpen, but not before Mother Nature called for a downpour that suspended the game.
With the suspended game resuming on Sunday, the 'Hoppers added on one more run in the seventh inning against Sousa on two hits and an error by the southpaw, increasing the Greensboro lead to six, 7-1.
In the bottom of the ninth, Blackman jumped all over a 1-2 pitch with two outs for his 14th home run of the season, cutting the lead to five, 7-2. But, two strikeouts in the inning, including nine strikeouts throughout the entire game, hindered the Kannapolis lineup all game long.
