Alcantara Drives in Six, Pelicans Win Their 10th Straight

The 10-game winning streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history

By Sam Weiderhaft

The magical month of May continued for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans as they grabbed their 10th-straight win with an 8-0 shutout over the Augusta GreenJackets on Wednesday night. The win was their second of the series, as the Birds improved to 30-11 and maintain the top winning percentage in all of Minor League Baseball. The GreenJackets fell to 21-20 with their second loss of the week. 10 consecutive wins are tied for the second-longest winning streak in franchise history, matching the mark set by the 2016 team.

It was Kevin Alcantara’s (3-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI, R) night as the right fielder drove in six runs with a three-run double and two-run home run to go with an RBI groundout. The six runs driven in are the second-most by a Pelican this season. Pete Crow-Armstrong (2-5, RBI, 3 R) accounted for four runs out of the leadoff spot while Kevin Made (1-4, RBI) also drove in a run. The Birds collected 10 hits while leaving just five runners on base.

Not to be overshadowed by the offense, Pelicans’ starter Luis Devers (4-3) grabbed his fourth victory of the season with a season-high-tying seven strikeouts across his five innings. The right-hander gave up three hits and three walks en route to the Pelicans’ third shutout of the season.

Augusta’s offense was held to only six hits for the game while striking out 12 times and walking four. Brandol Mezquita (2-4) was the only GreenJacket with a multi-hit performance while the team left nine on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Wednesday’s GreenJackets’ starter AJ Smith-Shawver (0-3) took the loss after suffering six runs, three earned during his 4 1/3 inning outing. Shawver struck out five and walked two while giving up the home run to Alcantara. The GreenJackets also committed three errors in the field during the loss.

After a scoreless first two frames, the Pelicans jumped out to a lead in the top of the third. Ezequiel Pagan floated a single to center field with two outs and Crow-Armstrong kept the inning alive by reaching base on a fielding error at shortstop. After Crow-Armstrong stole second, James Triantos walked to load the bases. Alcantara made his first impact on the game by taking the second pitch of his at-bat to right field to clear the bases on a double and give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The Pelicans followed up with three more runs in the fifth inning to break the game open. Pagan singled to lead off and stole second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Crow-Armstrong’s single to left. Following a Triantos flyout, Alcantara struck again with a home run to left-center field on the first pitch of his at-bat. His fifth home run of the season gave Myrtle Beach a 6-0 lead after five innings.

The finishing touches came in the seventh as Crow-Armstrong singled for the second time to start the frame. Triantos followed with a single to right that was thrown wild by Stephen Paolini to advance the runners to second and third. Alcantara brought in his sixth run of the evening on a groundout to second base as Crow-Armstrong touched home and Triantos moved to third. Made knocked in Triantos on a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the lead to 8-0.

The Pelicans will head into Thursday night with a chance to win their 11th consecutive game and third of the series against Augusta. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.