Hoppers lose series opener at Asheville

Blake Sabol goes 3-for-4 in loss, and Hoppers remain half-game out of playoff spot

Blake Sabol went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for the Greensboro Grasshoppers in a series-opening loss at Asheville. (Jak Kerley/Greensboro Grasshoppers)

By Jeff Mills

August 25, 2021

ASHEVILLE ― Shay Whitcomb went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs, and every man in Asheville's lineup had at least one hit as the Tourists beat the Greensboro Grasshoppers 13-6 in their series opener Tuesday night at McCormick Field. Blake Sabol went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and

ASHEVILLE ― Shay Whitcomb went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs, and every man in Asheville's lineup had at least one hit as the Tourists beat the Greensboro Grasshoppers 13-6 in their series opener Tuesday night at McCormick Field.

Blake Sabol went 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and two RBIs to lead the Hoppers (60-37), are in second place the High-A East's South Division, seven games behind Bowling Green (67-30).

More important, despite the loss the Hoppers kept pace with North Division leader Hudson Valley (60-36). The Renegades lost at Winston-Salem and hold a slim half-game lead on Greensboro in the race for the No. 2 overall record in the league.

The teams with the top two records, regardless of division, qualify for the 12-team league's championship series in September. Greensboro plays 12 of its last 18 games against Hudson Valley.

Greensboro's Will Matthiessen hit his 10th home run of the season, a three-run shot over the center-field fence in the seventh inning.

Hoppers left fielder Lolo Sanchez went 2-for-3 with a double, two walks and three runs scored. Sanchez leads the High-A East with 49 walks and 27 stolen bases. In his last 13 games, Sanchez is hitting .396 (19-for-48) with 14 runs scored.

Nick Gonzales, a second baseman rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 4 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, went 1-for-5 with his 18th double of the season. He has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games, raising his batting average to .296, which ranks fifth in the league among players with enough plate appearances to qualify.

Gonzales, who broke a finger in May and went on the injured list, was batting just .214 on July 15. In 32 games since then, he has hit .368 (49-for-133) with 11 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 20 RBIs.

Notes

Hoppers third baseman Jared Triolo, who had a 20-game hitting streak snapped Thursday, has gone just 2-for-22 in his last five games. Even so, it's been a season of steady growth for the 72nd overall pick in the 2019 draft. Triolo was batting just .217 on June 2, but in 66 games since then he has batted .314 with 15 doubles, 11 home runs, 50 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. He ranks third in the High-A East with 65 RBIs this season and eighth with a .290 batting average.
Nick Gonzales, a 22-year-old second baseman picked seventh overall in the 2020 draft, slipped from No. 1 to No. 4 in MLB Pipeline's revised rankings of Pittsburgh Pirates prospects last week.
In MLB Pipeline's revised list of Pittsburgh's prospects, Greensboro has seven of the top 15: No. 1 catcher Henry Davis; No. 2 pitcher Quinn Priester, No. 4 second baseman Nick Gonzales, No. 5 shortstop Liover Peguero, No. 10 pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski, No. 13 pitcher Tahnaj Thomas and No. 14 pitcher Michael Burrows.

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.