Hoppers win streak snapped in rain-shortened game

Yoyner Fajardo goes 2-for-3 and Dariel Lopez homers in loss that stopped four-game streak

By Jeff Mills

May 7, 2022

GREENSBORO ― Michael Sandle hit a grand slam, and Asheville scored two unearned runs late as the Tourists beat the Greensboro Grasshoppers 6-5 in a rain-shortened game stopped in the seventh inning at First National Bank Field on Friday night. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Hoppers

GREENSBORO ― Michael Sandle hit a grand slam, and Asheville scored two unearned runs late as the Tourists beat the Greensboro Grasshoppers 6-5 in a rain-shortened game stopped in the seventh inning at First National Bank Field on Friday night.

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Hoppers (11-14).

Relief pitcher Jack Carey (1-3) took the tough-luck loss. The right-hander came on with the score tied 4-4, and he gave up two unearned runs when the Hoppers committed two errors in the top of the sixth inning.

Dariel Lopez led off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to cut Asheville's lead to 6-5, and the Hoppers loaded the bases with two outs on Yoyner Fajardo's single and walks drawn by Jackson Glenn and Matt Gorski. But Asheville reliever Kyle Gruller struck out Hudson Head to end the threat.

The game was stopped with one out in the top of the seventh, and it was an official game when called after a 30-minute rain delay.

The Hoppers scored four times to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, the Hoppers scored three runs without a hit. Glenn and Gorski both drew RBI walks, and Endy Rodriguez was hit by a pitch. Head tied the game with a run-scoring single up the middle.

Winning pitcher Alfredi Jimenez (1-3) stuck out Jack Herman and got Ernny Ordoñez on a line drive to end the threat.

Lead-off hitter Fajardo went 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base to lead the Hoppers.

NOTES

Matt Gorski went 0-for-1 with three walks and an RBI. Gorski leads the South Atlantic League with 23 RBIs, and he ranks second in both runs scored (23) and home runs (8). Gorski also leads the Hoppers in stolen bases (9). He has been on base in 22 of 24 games playeds so far this season.
Henry Davis, the top pick in last year's draft and the No. 23 prospect in the entire minor leagues according to MLB Pipeline, got the night off. Davis is on a five-game hitting streak and has homered in three of those games. He has hits in 17 of the 21 games he's played, with nine multi-hit games. Davis ranks second in the Sally League in RBIs (22) and fourth in both batting average (.350) and on-base percentage (.448). Davis has reached base in 15 consecutive games, and 20 of 21 games played.
Yoyner Fajardo is 15-for-42 and leads the team lead with a .357 batting average, but he does not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the league leaders. Fajardo has hit safely in nine of 11 games played, with six multi-hit games.
Pirates prospect Endy Rodriguez ― a versatile player who has played catcher, first base, second base and left field ― went 0-for-3 to snap a six-game hitting streak. The 21-year-old is rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 7 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system.
Hudson Head, a 21-year-old outfielder rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 22 prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, has hits in his last four games and has reached base in 10 of his last 11 games.
The Hoppers are 4-6 in one-run games so far this season.

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.