Suns Hold-Off Legends Late Rally in 6-5 Win

Hagerstown, MD -   Alex Dunlap and Omar Meregildo belted home runs and Brigham Hill earned his second quality start of the season in the Hagerstown Suns 6-5 victory against the Lexington Legends on Monday night at Historic Municipal Stadium. The Suns are 13-22 in the second half and 40-63 overall. Hagerstown will play the second game of the series on Tuesday night with a 7:05 PM first pitch.

The Suns scored first in the second inning against Legends starter Jackson Kowar. With two outs, Meregildo crushed his third home run over the right-center field fence to give Hagerstown a 1-0 advantage. The ball traveled 395-feet, bouncing off the center field wall into the visiting bullpen.
The Suns added to their lead in the fourth against Kowar. Dunlap singled to left, Meregildo doubled to center field, Dunlap was thrown out at home trying to score and Meregildo moved to third on the throw. With two outs, Phil Caulfield singled to center field to plate Meregildo and increase the lead to 2-0.
Lexington scored two runs in the sixth inning against Hagerstown starter Hill in his last inning of work. Carlos Diaz led off with a single, Kyle Isbel singled to put runners at the corners, and Isbel stole second. Cristian Perez grounded out, plating Diaz to make it 2-1 while Isbel advanced to third on the play. Nick Pratto doubled down the right-field line, scoring Isbel and tying the game at 2-2.
The Suns regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth against Legends reliever Garrett Davila. Jake Scudder singled to left and Dunlap followed up with a 412-foot home run to make it 4-2. The homer was Dunlap's fifth of the season and the blast landed on the roof of the batting cage over the left field wall.
Hagerstown tacked on two runs in the eighth inning against Davila in his last inning of work. With two outs, Armond Upshaw reached on an error, Cole Freeman singled up the middle to put runners at the corners, and Gage Canning walked to load the bases. Scudder singled to left, plating Upshaw and Freeman to increase the Suns lead to 6-2.
 
The Legends rallied in the ninth against Suns reliever Connor Zwetsch. Seuly Matias base on an error and MJ Melendez singled to right to put runners on first and second. With no one out, the runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Jeison Guzman grounded out, plating Matias to make it 6-3. Cal Jones belted a two-run home run to decrease the Suns lead 6-5. Zwetsch left the game with two outs, and Phil Morse struck out Isbel in a full-count to end the game and secure the win.
 
Hill (3-3) spun six innings while allowing two runs on seven hits and struck out one in a win on Tuesday night in his third quality start. Jonatan German pitched two hitless innings with a walk and a strike out. Zwetch pitched two-thirds of the ninth inning while giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits. Morse entered from the bullpen with two outs and struck out the only batter he faced, earning a save and preserving a 6-5 win.  
Notes: Dunlap launched his fifth home run of the season… It's his fourth home run since Friday July 27… He logged his fourth multi-hit game and his fourth multi-RBI game… His three RBI game ties a season-high… Meregildo recorded his seventh multi-hit game and his third home run on the season… Scudder is the first Suns player with 40 RBIs this season… He logged his 12^th multi-hit game in 2018… Freeman recorded his 17^th multi-hit game of the year… Hill earned his second quality start… Hill's quality start is the 36^th of the season for the Suns starters… Hill now has a three-game win streak… Hagerstown will play game two of this three-game series on Tuesday night… First pitch will be at 7:05 PM… The Suns will send RHP Tomas Alastre (4-5, 4.99 ERA) to the mound against LHP Daniel Lynch (2-0, 1.93 ERA)… The broadcast can be heard, starting with the pregame show at 6:50 PM on www.hagerstownsuns.com by going to multimedia tab and clicking on "Listen Live"... The broadcast is also available on the Hagerstown Suns Radio Network in the Tune-In Radio and MiLB First Pitch apps.
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