Stiever's Gem and Kannapolis' Bats Shine in 9-0 Win
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - The Kannapolis Intimidators (26-32) took on the Delmarva Shorebirds (43-14) Tuesday Night and put together their best collective performance of the season with every position player getting a hit and the defense coming up with a shutout, winning 9-0.The fourth-ranked prospect for the Baltimore Orioles, Grayson Rodriguez
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. - The Kannapolis Intimidators (26-32) took on the Delmarva Shorebirds (43-14) Tuesday Night and put together their best collective performance of the season with every position player getting a hit and the defense coming up with a shutout, winning 9-0.
The fourth-ranked prospect for the Baltimore Orioles, Grayson Rodriguez (L, 6-1), took the mound with a 6-0 record on the season, without giving up more than three earned runs in a game this season. In the bottom of the third, Kannapolis changed that.
Corey Zangari and Luis Curbelo led off the inning with back-to-back hits. After two straight pop outs, Lenyn Sosa was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. With two outs and the bases loaded, Alex Destino came through with a single, scoring both Zangari and Sosa. Romy Gonzalez followed that up with a two-out hit of his own, driving in Sosa and Destino to extend the lead to 4-0.
The runs didn't stop there for the Intimidators. Ramon Beltre singled to left field to score Troutwine to extend the lead to 5-0. Ian Dawkins then got on base with his 19th straight hit and 30th straight game reaching base safely. A wild pitch and heads up base running scored Beltre during Lenyn Sosa's at-bat, as a Sosa single scored Dawkins to give Kannapolis a 7-0 lead after four complete.
Delmarva's starter struggled, but Kannapolis' did not. Jonathan Stiever (W, 4-4) pitched his first scoreless outing of the season, going 7.0 innings, giving up no runs or walks, just four hits, and tallying seven strikeouts.
Bryce Bush, who just got activated off the Injured List, hit a homerun (3) in the eighth inning that hit the clubhouse, making things 8-0 Kannapolis. The Shorebird's second error of the night resulted in Gunnar Troutwine also scoring in the eighth to put the Intimidators up 9-0.
J.B Olson followed up Stiever's performance with two scoreless innings of his own, and Kannapolis got the 9-0 win.
The Intimidators will finish up the series with Delmarva Wednesday Night at 7:00 p.m., as newly named All-Star Johan Dominguez (2-2, 1.61 ERA) will be on the mound for the Intimidators against Delmarva's Gray Fenter (4-1, 2.34 ERA).