Long Ball Dooms Potomac in 10-5 Loss
Winston-Salem had five players with multi-hit games highlighted by Dan Black's 4-for-5 night with a home run and Brady Shoemaker's first multi-home run game of the season. Black now has seven home runs on the season and the Dash have scored 66 runs during their eight-game winning streak.
Ryan Buch (2-1) picked up the win for Winston-Salem. He retired the first ten batters of the game and went 5.2 innings allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters.
Shoemaker broke the scoreless tie in the top of the second swinging at the first pitch and cracking a solo home run over the left field wall, his fourth of the season.
The long ball played a factor once again for the Dash in a three-run top of the fourth. Black and Shoemaker began the inning with back-to-back solo shots off Kyle Winters that increased the lead to 3-0. Daniel Wagner added to the scoring later in the inning with an RBI single that plated Mike Blanke.
Winston-Salem added another run in the fifth inning after an error by Zach Walters allowed Trayce Thompson to score on a double by Black.
Winters (1-3) was pulled after 4.1 innings yielding five runs, one of them unearned, on nine hits and a season-high three home runs.
Michael Taylor got Potomac back into the game in the sixth inning with a two-out, bases clearing triple that cut the deficit to 5-3. Taylor is second on the team with 12 RBIs.
Both teams added a run in the seventh inning. In the top half, Black lined a two-out, RBI single up the middle that scored Thompson while Kevin Keyes got the run back in the home half of the seventh with a solo home run, his fourth of the season.
The exchanging of runs continued in the eighth inning. The Dash added two more courtesy of a Mike Blanke solo home run that led off the inning and an RBI single by Carlos Sanchez. The P-Nats responded with an RBI double by Walters in the eighth inning that brought home Rick Hague.
Michael Earley put it out of reach in the top of the ninth with the fifth home run of the night, a two-run shot, to put the Dash up 10-5.
The Nationals continue their series with the Winston-Salem Dash tomorrow evening. Lefty Matt Grace will be on the mound and the first pitch is at 7:05 PM. Call our ticket office at 703-590-2311 or visit our ticket page on www.potomacnationals.com for more information.