Suns fall in series finale against Greensboro 5-2
HAGERSTOWN, MD - The Hagerstown Suns (4-5, 39-38) were done in by the long ball on Friday night, falling to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (2-7, 31-47) by a final of 5-2. Despite the loss the Suns wrapped up their season-series against Greensboro with a 9-5 record, including a 5-2 record against the Grasshoppers at Municipal Stadium.
The balls began flying out of the yard for Greensboro in the fourth. Trailing 2-0 entering the frame, 1B Arturo Rodrgiuez led off with a single to left. Then, LF Austen Smith came to the plate, and he crushed a pitch over the left field wall for his team-leading 12th homer of the season to even the score at 2-2. Smith entered the game with the second most homeruns in the South Atlantic League this season.
One inning later, RF John Norwood wound up giving Greensboro the lead for good with a solo shot that sailed over the left-center field wall for his seventh homerun of the season. That came with two outs in the inning and put the Grasshoppers up 3-2.
The lead remained 3-2 until the ninth, when the Grasshoppers were finally able to make things a bit more comfortable. Third baseman Brian Schales led off the top of the ninth by drawing a walk, and two batters later he wound up moving from first to third when DH Erwin Almonte hit a single followed by a throwing error by Suns 1B Jose Marmolejos. After catcher Roy Morales struck out swinging for the second out of the frame, CF Zach Sullivan came to the plate and belted a line drive double to left, driving in both base runners and setting the final score.
The two Suns runs both crossed the plate in the first inning. Shortstop Osvaldo Abreu led off with an infield single to third. Then LF Bryan Mejia also hit an infield single, which was picked up by Morales and thrown wide of first, allowing Abreu to score and Mejia to wind up at second. Mejia stole third and scored the second run of the frame on an RBI single by Marmolejos to make it 2-0 Suns at the time.
Despite delivering a quality start, RHP Luis Reyes (3-5) got tagged with the loss for Hagerstown. In six innings he gave up three earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four. RHP Kelvin Rivas (1-0) got the win in relief for Greensboro. In just his second appearance of the year for the Grasshoppers, Rivas pitched two scoreless frames, surrendering one hit and one walk while striking out two. RHP Kyle Fischer kept the Suns off the board in the ninth to earn his fourth save in four tries this season.
The Suns next head to Lakewood, New Jersey to begin a four-game series with the Lakewood BlueClaws (4-5, 37-40) on Saturday, July 4. The Suns will send RHP Mario Sanchez (4-2) to the mound for his fourth start and 17th appearance this season. He will square off against LHP Elniery Garcia (5-6) for Lakewood. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.