Bad bounces, home run robbery sink Hoppers

GREENSBORO ― The ball left Jacob Gonzalez's bat with a loud crack and sailed deep into straightaway center field, bound for the wall 400 feet away.

It was high. It was far. It was ... caught.

Wilmington center fielder Jeremy Ydens sprinted back to the warning track, leaped at the fence and snared Gonzalez's drive, snatching the ball out of the air and robbing Greensboro's cleanup hitter of a game-tying home run.

Ydens' catch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning preserved Wilmington's 4-3 lead and helped the Blue Rocks defeat the Greensboro Grasshoppers at First National Bank Field before a big crowd of 5,918 on Friday night.

Gonzalez stopped running just short of second base, took off his helmet and stood there in shock. The play happened in front of him as he rounded first base, and he saw the catch with his own eyes. He just didn't believe it.

It was that kind of night, a game full of odd bounces and near misses.

Wilmington scored the go-ahead run on such a ricochet in the top of the eighth. Yasel Antuna singled, took second on a weak groundout, then scored all the way from second on a wild pitch from tough-luck losing pitcher Eddy Yean (1-2). Yean's pitch was thrown hard, and it bounced off the brick backstop away from Hoppers catcher Abrahan Gutierrez and toward third baseman Eli Wilson.

With the ball in no-man's land, between the two defenders, Antuna never stopped running and scored easily.

Greensboro had just tied the score on a bouncing ball of its own in the bottom of the seventh.

Trailing 3-1, Gutierrez and Wilson drew back-to-back walks. With two outs Francisco Acuña turned on an inside pitch and laced the ball down the third-base line. It ended up rattling around in the Hoppers' bullpen, and both runners scored without a throw on Acuña's double.

One last bad bounce killed a Hoppers' rally in the ninth inning.

Fabricio Macias and Gutierrez started the ninth with back-to-back singles off reliever Amos Willingham. Wilson laid down an attempted sacrifice, but the bunt put backspin on the ball. It hit the dirt in front of the plate and bounced directly to Blue Rocks catcher Onix Vega, who started a double play by throwing to third base for the force out. The throw back across the diamond beat Wilson to first by a step.

Willingham struck out Sammy Siani to end it.

Hoppers leadoff hitter Yoyner Fajardo went 2-for-4 with a solo home run to lead the offense, while right-hander Wandi Montout struck out five of the eight batters he faced in 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Starter Jared Jones pitched better than his final stat line. Jones retired nine batters in a row before walking Jordy Barley ― the .150-hitting ninth batter in the lineup ― on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the fifth inning. The walk changed the game. Jones gave up a single and a home run to the next two hitters, and left the game trailing 3-1.

Jones mixed a fastball that reached 98 mph with a mid-80s slider to strike out five in 4 2/3 innings. The 20-year-old right-hander, who is rated as Pittsburgh's No. 12 prospect by MLB Pipeline, ranks fifth in the South Atlantic league with 59 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings.

NOTES

• The Hoppers have lost six of their last eight games.
• Greensboro is 8-7 in one-run games this season. The Hoppers have won seven of their last nine one-run games.
• Robbed of the home run, first baseman Jacob Gonzalez settled for a 1-for-4 night Friday. He has been one of the South Atlantic League's best players since his promotion from Class-A Bradenton on May 10. He has hit safely in 16 of 19 games since then, with eight multi-hit games. Gonzalez is 27-for-72 (.375) with four home runs and 11 RBIs.
• Yoyner Fajardo has hit safely in 18 of 22 games played, with 10 multi-hit games. Fajardo is 29-for-83 and his .349 batting average would lead the Sally League if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.
• Center fielder Hudson Head, a 21-year-old rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 20 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, went 0-for-1 and was lifted from the game after getting hit by a pitch in his second plate appearance. Head has hits in 16 of his last 19 games. He has reached base in 26 of his last 29 games.
• Endy Rodriguez went 0-for-4 Friday, but he has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games. The switch-hitting Rodgriguez batted .296 with five home runs and 13 RBIs in 21 games in May. He's 23-for-76 (.303) since moving into the No. 3 slot in Greensboro's batting order. ... Rodriguez started at second base Friday. The versatile 22-year-old is rated by MLB Pipeline as Pittsburgh's No. 7 prospect, and he has played four positions ― catcher, first base, second base and left field ― this season.