Rodriguez Hot Start, Zue Slam, Lead Cola to 4-3 Win

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Darwin Rodriguez spun seven scoreless innings behind a Jhosmmel Zue grand slam as the Fireflies held on late to beat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4-3 Tuesday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.

Darwin Rodriguez (W, 3-4) blazed past the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Tuesday night. The southpaw worked seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts before he passed the ball to Henson Leal. Rodriguez walked one and allowed five hits in his first-career quality start.

Leal worked a scoreless eighth inning around a single, but ran into some trouble in the ninth. He allowed the first four Cannon Ballers to reach against him before handing the ball to Dash Albus (S, 1) with the bases loaded and nobody out and a 4-1 lead. Albus started hot, forcing Adrian Gil to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, which also scored Derek Cerde to cut Columbia’s lead to 4-2. Next, Nathan Archer tripled to score Stiven Flores and put the tying run 90 feet away for Judrick Profar. Profar grounded out to short to close out the win for Columbia.

The Fireflies cracked the score column first in the top of the second. Yandel Ricardo and Hyungchan Um drew back-to-back walks to kick-off the frame. Next, Roni Cabrera lined a two-strike bunt past starting pitcher Gabe Tanner to load the bases with no one out for Jhosmmel Zue. Columbia’s backstop cracked his second homer to right field to give Columbia the 4-0 lead. It was the Fireflies fourth grand slam of the season and first since Um hit a grand slam Sunday, June 7 in the eighth inning at Fayetteville.

That marked the fatal mistake for the righty. His night ended after five innings and he worked around six hits and a pair of walks to allow just those four runs that came around on the Zue slam before handing the ball to the Kannapolis bullpen.

After Tanner, Daniel Wright, Jesus Mendez and Marco Barrios combined for four perfect innings out of the bullpen. The trio combined for five strikeouts. All-in-all, the Cannon Ballers pitching staff retired the final 16 batters they faced.

Columbia continues its series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tomorrow afternoon at 12:05 pm at Atrium Health Ballpark. RHP Ryan McDonagh (0-0, 3.60 ERA) takes the bump for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Alexander Martinez (1-4, 7.15 ERA).

The Fireflies return home for 12 games in 13 days from June 30-July 12. The team will celebrate America’s 250th birthday with the biggest fireworks show of the year, Saturday, July 4 and will continue with fireworks and a patriotic theme all weekend thanks to SC 250. The next weekend, the club is throwing it back to the 90s for the return of the Capital City Bombers thanks to Cassell Brothers Home Services. Join the team for a bobble plane giveaway Friday, July 10 and a drone show Saturday, July 11. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.