Wild night ends in walk-off win for Pelicans

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (May 13, 2018) - The Myrtle Beach Pelicans' Vimael Machin scored on a ninth-inning wild pitch to walk-off Sunday's game in a 8-7 come-from-behind win over the Buies Creek Astros from TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark. 
With the Pelicans (15-22) trailing 6-1 in the eighth inning, the rally began. To that point, the only hit for the Birds had been a second-inning solo home run from Jhonny Pereda , and the catcher struck again with an RBI single to make it 6-2 Astros. He then came in on a wild pitch and Kevonte Mitchell laced an RBI double to left to cut the deficit to 6-4 entering the ninth.

After the Astros (22-15) tacked on a run in the top of the ninth with a sacrifice fly, the Birds showed their patience. After walking to begin the bottom of the ninth Luis Ayala , who made his first start for the Pelicans on Sunday night, scored on a sacrifice fly by Andruw Monasterio  to make it at two-run game. Tyler Alamo  then singled home a run and Pereda plated the tying run with a walk, the season-best 12th walk on the night for the Pelicans. 
With Mitchell at the plate, Colin McKee threw a curve off the outside corner in the dirt and it went all the way to the backstop. That allowed Machin to score and the Pelicans secured their second walk-off win on the year (May 1 versus Carolina was the other).
After Pereda's homer in the second gave Myrtle Beach a 1-0 lead, the Astros look the lead back against Pelicans' starter Keegan Thompson when Anibal Sierra blasted a two-run home run. Thompson allowed just two runs over six innings while tying a career high with seven strikeouts. 
Buies Creek then exploded in the seventh inning for four runs to increase its lead to 6-1. Orlando Marquez, Alfredo Angarita and Abraham Toro all picked up RBIs while Marquez stole home on the back end of a double steal as well.
Tyler Peyton (2-1), who allowed an unearned run in the ninth inning, earned the win for the Pelicans while Jesus Balaguer (3-2) was handed the loss after allowing all four runs in the ninth. 
The Carolina League will enjoy a day off tomorrow, but the Pelicans are back out on the road for six games starting on Tuesday, May 15. The Birds will see the Wilmington BlueRocks on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. for the first game of a three-game set. Myrtle Beach will send RHP Tyson Miller  (3-3, 3.38 ERA) against the BlueRocks' RHP Jace Vines (1-5, 7.08 ERA). Audio coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/Broadcast, TuneIn and the MiLB First Pitch app. 
The 2018 season is the 20th season for the Pelicans franchise and fourth as the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. For tickets visit MyrtleBeachPelicans.com/tickets, call (843) 918-6000, or visit the Pelicans Box Office.
ABOUT THE PELICANS: The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Chicago Cubs and play their home games at TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The park has ranked in the top eight in all of Minor League Baseball by Stadium Journey in six of the last seven seasons. The same publication also placed the Pelicans in the Top 100 Stadium Experiences and the best in the Carolina League for six of the past seven seasons as well. In June 2017, TicketReturn.Com Field at Pelicans Ballpark won the 2017 TripAdvisor.com Certificate of Excellence award. The Pelicans have won four Mills Cup Championships, including claims to back-to-back titles in 1999 and 2000, and again in 2015 and 2016. The Pelicans have made 11 postseason appearances behind 13 half-season Southern Division championships, including the first half of the 2015 season, second half of 2016 and first half of 2017. For more information on the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, please contact the Pelicans at (843) 918-6000 or emailing [email protected].