Shorebirds Fall in Rain Shortened Game, 7-5

Salisbury, MD - The Delmarva Shorebirds (10-6) pitching staff surrendered 12 hits in six innings as the Greensboro Grasshoppers (9-7) leveled the series with a 7-5 win in a rain shortened six inning game two on Friday night at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium.

The Shorebirds were first on the board in the first inning.  Anthony Vega reached on an error by shortstop Anthony Gomez.  He stole second and later scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Creede Simpson, who extended his RBI streak to seven games.

Greensboro quickly responded with a run in the second on a groundout RBI by Cody Keefer to score Jesus Solorzano. 

The Grasshoppers took the lead in the third on a single by Viosergy Rosa to score Yeison Hernandez.

The Shorebirds regained the lead in the third with three runs.  Gregory Lorenzo hit a lead off double on a chopper that jumped off the lip and into shallow left-center.  After an Anthony Vega single, Tucker Nathans singled home Lorenzo.  Then, Christian Walker singled to give the Shorebirds a 3-2 lead.  Two batters later, Wynston Sawyer hit a sacrifice fly to left field to increase the lead to 4-2. 

The see-saw battle continued in the fourth inning as Greensboro plated four runs to take a 6-4 lead.  Yordy Cabrera had a two-run single in the inning.

The Shorebirds again cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fourth.  Lorenzo reached on a fielder's choice and stole second base.  He scored on a single by Vega.

Before the start of the seventh inning, the rain poured down and the players were removed from the field.

Greensboro reliever Jheyson Manzueta earned the win over 2.1 innings.  He allowed two hits and no runs.

Shorebirds starter Branden Kline was saddled with the loss over 3.1 innings.  He yielded seven hits and six runs.

The Shorebirds and Grasshoppers play game three of the series on Saturday, April 20 at 7:05pm.  LHP Josh Hader is the scheduled starter for the Shorebirds.