Francisco Acuña's home run lifts Hoppers to 2-1 win
BROOKLYN ― Raise your hand if you would’ve picked Francisco Acuna as the player most likely to hit a clutch home run. Now put your hand down. Because, no, you would not. And yet it was, indeed, Acuña ― all 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds of him ― who launched a
BROOKLYN ― Raise your hand if you would’ve picked Francisco Acuna as the player most likely to hit a clutch home run.
Now put your hand down. Because, no, you would not.
And yet it was, indeed, Acuña ― all 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds of him ― who launched a two-run home run over the left-field fence in the eighth inning to lift the Greensboro Grasshoppers to a 2-1 victory over the Brooklyn Cyclones at Maimonides Park on Friday night.
Winning pitcher Wandi Montout (4-4) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to pick up the win in relief, and right-hander Cameron Junker worked the ninth inning for his seventh save. Junker struck out Jaylen Palmer on a 2-2 pitch to end the game, stranding the potential tying run at second base.
Right-hander Jared Jones pitched perhaps his best game in 17 starts this season. Jones allowed a run on two hits and two walks, striking out eight in six innings. The 20-year-old, rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 11 prospect in Pittsburgh’s farm system, ranks third in the South Atlantic League with 102 strikeouts in 80⅔ innings.
But it was Acuña who stole the show.
The 22-year-old shortstop from Colombia is quietly having a good year, hitting .272 in a utility role while playing superior infield defense. And he was the unlikely offensive hero Friday.
Brooklyn's lefty reliever Andrew Edwards (0-1) hit Eli Wilson with a pitch leading off the eighth. Wilson was forced out at second on Hudson Head’s ground ball, but Head’s speed prevented a double play.
Acuña followed, and he hit a 2-0 pitch over the fence in left for his second home run of the season and his eighth in 253 minor-league games.
Yoyner Fajardo, Abrahan Gutierrez and Dariel Lopez all went 1-for-4 with singles as the Hoppers managed just four hits in the pitchers’ duel.
But on this night, Acuña’s unexpected home run was the only hit that mattered.
NOTES
- Greensboro is 15-13 in one-run games this season. The Hoppers have won 14 of their last 22 one-run games.
- First baseman Abrahan Gutierrez went 1-for-4. He has reached base in 18 of his last 22 games, going 23-for-79 (.291) during that span with five doubles, two home runs and 16 RBIs.
- Catcher Endy Rodriguez went 0-for-3 with a walk. He has hit safely in 26 of his last 32 games, going 32-for-98 (.327) with 13 doubles, three home runs, 21 RBIs and 19 runs scored. 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.
- Designated hitter Dariel Lopez has hit safely in 25 of his last 28 games, going 41-for-118 (.347) with six home runs, six doubles, 20 RBIs and 21 runs scored. He has 12 multi-hit games in that span.
In his career at the News & Record, journalist Jeff Mills won 10 national and 12 state writing awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, the Society for Features Journalism, and the N.C. Press Association.
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