Jackson Glenn's walk-off hit lifts Hoppers to I-40 lead

GREENSBORO ― Jackson Glenn lifted a flyball over the head of a drawn-in outfielder for a game-winning double in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Greensboro Grasshoppers defeated the Winston-Salem Dash 3-2 at First National Bank Field on Saturday night.

With Eli Wilson at third base after Ernny Ordoñez’s sacrifice bunt, Glenn drove an 0-2 pitch from losing pitcher Haylen Green (0-1) to the opposite field, over the head of Winston-Salem’s Ben Norman, who got a glove on the ball after a long run but couldn’t make the catch.

Teammates spilled out of the dugout and mobbed Glenn after he rounded second base, stripping his jersey off in the celebration.

With the win, Greensboro took a 12-11 lead over Winston-Salem in their “Battle of I-40” rivalry season series. The teams play one last time Sunday night, and the Hoppers ― who have gone 8-4 in the last 12 games against the Dash ― have clinched at least a tie in the summer rivalry.

Winning pitcher Cameron Junker (6-3) closed the game with two scoreless innings, walking one and striking out four. He struck out Norman on a 3-2 pitch with runners at first a third to end the top of the 10th and set the stage for Glenn’s key hit.

Jase Bowen went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple for the Hoppers, and Wilson hit a key run-scoring single on an 0-2 pitch in his first plate appearance of the game.

Greensboro's pitching was the story for most of the game.

Starter Jared Jones, working on a strict pitch-count as the season winds down, gave up two runs on three hits in four innings. But Jones was dominant for most of his outing, using a mid-90s mph fastball and sharp slider to strike out seven.

The bullpen allowed no hits and shut out Winston-Salem the rest of the way. Cristian Charle struck out two in his two innings, and hard-throwing Eddy Yean struck out three before turning the game over to Junker in the ninth inning.

Dash pitching was good, too, but the Hoppers made the most of their six hits. Mike Jarvis and Hudson Head both had singles in the game for Greensboro.

NOTES

• With the win, the Hoppers (56-66) improved to 29-28 in the second half of the Sally League season, 5½ games behind first-place Hudson Valley in the North Division standings with just seven games left in the regular season.
• The Hoppers are 21-17 in one-run games this season.
• Saturday’s 10th-inning victory was the Hoppers’ seventh walk-off win of the season, with game-winning hits from Jack Herman, Matt Gorski, Yoyner Fajardo twice, Ernny Ordoñez, Mike Jarvis and now Jackson Glenn.
• Right-hander Cameron Junker improved to 6-3 with a 3.64 ERA, and he leads the South Atlantic League with 12 saves this season. Junker has pitched in 42 games this summer, striking out 62 in 47 innings of work and holding opponents to a .216 batting average.
• Starting pitcher Jared Jones, a 21-year-old right-hander rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 18 prospect in Pittsburgh’s farm system, has been limited to 75 or fewer pitches in his last five starts as the Pirates taper his workload. Jones leads the Sally League with 139 strikeouts in 118⅓ innings of work, and he has made a league-high 25 starts. He’s 5-6 this season with a 4.63 ERA.