Shorebirds Crush Lakewood, 8-1

Salisbury, MD - The Delmarva Shorebirds continued their winning ways against a new opponent, the Lakewood BlueClaws, on Saturday night. With a grand slam from Jeff Kemp, Delmarva (17-17) won their fourth straight game with a 8-1 final score over Lakewood.

Delmarva struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Mike Yastrzemski led off the frame with his fifth triple of the season, tied for the league lead. After BlueClaws' starter Alejandro Arteaga hit Jeff Kemp with a pitch, Drew Dosch sliced an RBI single to left field.

The BlueClaws responded quickly with a run in the top of the second. Dylan Cozens roped a leadoff double, and then Mitch Walding drove home the run with a single to center.

The 1-1 tie did not last long, as Delmarva tallied another run in the second. Josh Hart reached on an infield single up the middle, stopped by the second baseman Andrew Pullin. With two outs, Arteaga committed a balk to move up Hart to third base. Hart then scooted home on another infield single, this time by Justin Viele on a slow tapper to third base.

Luc Rennie cruised on the hill in search of his first victory of the season. Rennie allowed one run on five hits through six innings, striking out four. Dennis Torres took over in the seventh inning, striking out the side to keep the 2-1 score.

The Shorebirds broke it open in the bottom of the seventh with a big fly. An error, hit-by-pitch and single loaded the bases for Jeff Kemp. The Delmarva shortstop launched a deep drive to center, clearing the fence for the Shorebirds' first grand slam of the year.

Delmarva scored twice more in the eighth inning on a pair of wild pitches, scoring Viele and Yastrzemski. Up 8-1, Dennis Torres coasted to a nine-out save as the reliever pitched three scoreless innigns. Torres recorded his first save of the year, and Rennie (1-3) took home his first win of the season. Arteaga (3-4) suffered the defeat for Lakewood.

The seven-run win matched the largest margin of victory for Delmarva this year. The four-game winning streak also ties a season-best, having won four consecutive games from April 14th to 18th.

The Shorebirds will go for a season-best five-game winning streak on Sunday afternoon. Right-hander Austin Urban (1-3, 5.66) will start for Delmarva against BlueClaws' right-hander Mark Leiter, Jr. (3-3, 3.89). First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 pm at Perdue Stadium.