FredNats walked off 8-7 in Lynchburg

LYNCHBURG, VA - The Fredericksburg Nationals (21-27) allowed four runs in the ninth inning, as the Lynchburg Hillcats (29-20) screamed back to steal an 8-7 win. With the win, the Hillcats took a 3-1 series lead.

It looked for a while like the FredNats were going to cruise to victory. Their starter, Davian Garcia, dazzled across 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out seven Hillcats, all with his fastball. Garcia allowed just one hit, a single from Yaikel Mijares that broke up a no-hit bid in the fifth inning.

At the plate, the FredNats jumped out to a 6-0 lead against Lynchburg pitching. They grabbed three runs against the starter, Jervis Alfaro, and limited him to just four innings of work before tapping into more offense off the bullpen. The big swing of the bat came in the sixth inning from Carlos Tavares, who lifted a ball into the wind that pushed towards the right field corner, helping the ball sail out for Tavares’ first Single-A home run. That, at the time, made it 6-0.

Then, the bottom of the sixth hit. Joan Adon, rehabbing from AAA Rochester, entered in relief and walked all four batters he faced before being lifted from the game. All four of those runners scored for Lynchburg in the sixth inning, despite the fact that the Hillcats didn’t have a single hit in the frame. At the end, it was a 6-4 game.

The FredNats added insurance with four walks of their own in the top of the ninth, but only scored that one run despite having the bases loaded and nobody out. So, it was a 7-4 lead heading bottom nine.

Ryan Minckler stayed on the bump looking for his first career save, but gave up a double and a single instantly, more hits than Lynchburg entered the inning with. After a strikeout, Minckler hit Garrett Howe and gave up a game-tying double to Jeffrey Mercedes down the right field line. Tommy Hawke, MiLB’s stolen base leader, pinch-ran at second and raced in to score the winning run on a flare shot single to left field.

After the loss Friday, the FredNats look for redemption with Bryan Polanco (3-3, 2.43) on the hill Saturday in a 6:30 start.