Puckett's Strong Start Erased in Extra Innings

LAKEWOOD, N.J. (April 17, 2018) - Despite allowing one earned run over 7.0 innings on the mound, Brady Puckett's pitching performance fell by the wayside as the Grasshoppers surrendered the lead late en route to an extra-innings loss, 5-4 in 10 innings, to the Lakewood BlueClaws on Tuesday at FirstEnergy Park. Greensboro (6-5) led 4-3 going into the bottom of the eighth before Lakewood evened the game.
In the bottom of the 10th - with Nick Maton starting on second base under the new rules - Colby Fitch singled with two outs to right field, scoring the winning run in walk-off fashion. Fitch finished 2-for-5 with three runs scored while contributing heavily to Lakewood's late offense.
Travis Neubeck (1-1) took the loss for Greensboro while Addison Russ (2-0) tossed 2.0 scoreless innings for Lakewood to secure the win. 
Puckett took no decision despite one of the longest starts by a Hoppers arm this season. He allowed three runs (one earned) while scattering six hits and no walks over 7.0 innings, fanning six along the way. 
Greensboro trailed 3-0 after four innings before scoring in bulk with two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. In the top of the sixth, after five scoreless innings against BlueClaws starting pitching David Parkinson, the Hoppers pounced on reliever Luis Carrasco. Micah Brown led off the inning with a walk, and Eric Gutierrez doubled him over to third. Marcos Rivera followed with an RBI-single to put Greensboro on the board, and Gutierrez scored one batter later on a double play to pull within one, 3-2.
In the seventh, the Grasshoppers grabbed the lead against BlueClaws reliever Randy Alcantara, who plunked Michael Hernandez to open the inning and then allowed a Jhonny Santos double to left field. Aaron Knapp and Sam Castro followed with back-to-back RBI-singles, giving Greensboro a 4-3 lead.  
Lakewood tied the game in the eighth when Colby Fitch tripled and scored on a Daniel Brito groundout.
The Grasshoppers wrap up this road trip with Game 3 of this series against the BlueClaws on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. at FirstEnergy Park. Greensboro is back at First National Bank Field on Thursday to open a 4-game home stand against the Charleston RiverDogs. Tickets are available online at gsohoppers.com.