Blue Crabs break offensive drought
Sweep Bridgeport in doubleheader
The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were in a funk offensively coming into Wednesday’s doubleheader versus Bridgeport at Waldorf’s Regency Furniture Stadium.
The Blue Crabs had not scored since walking off Sugar Land in Game 1 of a twinbill on Saturday, a span of 25 straight innings.
The streak had reached 28 when they finally broke the drought in Game 1 Wednesday night, scoring a run in the bottom of the fourth en route to an eventual 4-1 victory.
Southern Maryland kept the offense rolling in Game 2 with another 4-1 win to complete the sweep over the Bluefish.
Atlantic League doubleheaders are seven-inning regulation games.
The Blue Crabs were shut out 3-0 in the series opener Monday, Tuesday night’s contest was postponed due to inclement weather and rescheduled as part of Wednesday’s doubleheader. They had a chance to wrap up a series win in the finale on Thursday with 2003 La Plata High School graduate Daryl Thompson scheduled to start on the mound.
Southern Maryland (6261 overall, 23-30 Freedom Division second half) is then scheduled to play four games in Sugar Land, Texas, starting tonight and going through Labor Day Monday. But due to severe flooding in that area from Hurricane Harvey, the exact series schedule was not known by press time. Blue Crabs manager James Frisbie said late Wednesday night that tonight’s game may not be played and could be moved to a doubleheader on Saturday or Sunday. Sugar Land is about 30 minutes southwest of Houston.
Wednesday, the Blue Crabs — 7 games behind York and Lancaster in the Freedom Division second-half standings after the doubleheader sweep — got back in the winning streak behind strong starting pitching from Gaby Hernanadez in Game 1 and Brian Grening in Game 2.
“First off Bridgeport is very good team,” Frisbie said. “Gaby and Brian had quality starts and good pitching sometime beats good hitting. We are fortunate to get two wins tonight.”
Bridgeport (65-58, 24-29) took a 1-0 lead in Game 2 as Luis Hernandez hit a oneout double and then scored on a Jonathan Galvez single.
Following a Tucker Nathans walk to lead off the bottom of the fourth, L.J. Hoes gave Southern Maryland a 2-1 lead on a two-run home run.
“We have a lot of talent on the roster and it was only a matter of time before our offense started clicking,” Hoes said. “We are a home run team and tonight I was looking for a good pitch to hit and was able to take one out.”
Two batters later, Devon Rodriguez doubled with one out and came home on Zach Cone’s two-out double
to push the lead to 3-1.
The Blue Crabs tacked on one more run in the sixth as Hoes scored on an error by Bridgeport third baseman Angelys Nina.
Grening collected the win to go to 8-6 on the season. In five innings, he gave up just one run on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
“Taking both games tonight is a big deal,” Grening said. “The bullpen did a great job and the bats were clutch. Good teams get wins like that and that’s us.”
Zack Thornton delivered his first save of the season after retiring the side in order in the seventh with one strikeout.
In Game 1, Cory Vaughn led off the fourth with a double. Patrick Palmeiro then reached on a Nina error, scoring Vaughn for the first run of the game and ending the scoreless streak.
Bridgeport tied the game at 1 in the top of the fifth as former Blue Crabs catcher Gustavo Molina (2 hits) hit the first pitch of the inning over the left-field fence for a solo homer.
In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Crabs took the lead for good.
After a Hoes walk, Michael
Snyder singled to put Hoes at second. Two batters later with one out, Vaughn hit a three-run home run to seal the win.
Vaughn, Edwin Garcia and Luis Alen each had two hits in the game.
“The pitcher threw a cutter and I jumped on it,” said Vaughn on the game-breaking hit. “Gaby was pitching great and the game was tied, I just wanted to get on base. The game is a rollercoaster, but we’ve been picking each other up. It felt good to get the sweep tonight.”
Hernandez picked up his Atlantic League-tying 11th win and 40th as a Blue Crab. He gave up just one run on four hits in six innings with six strikeouts with two walks.
Hernandez also has the most strikeouts in the league with 146 on the season.
“Feels good to get the win,” he said. “It’s been a nice year for us as a team. My success is reflective on how well we are as a team. It’s great to get a couple of wins today and get some momentum going into the end of the season and the playoffs.”
Closer Cody Eppley got into a little jam in the seventh after a single and walk brought the tying run to the plate with two outs and a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. But Eppley struck out Angel Rosa, the last of the three he fanned in the inning, to end the game and pick up his 29th save of the season.
“Tonight I just wanted to mix up it and establish the fastball,” Hernandez said. “Luis and I have done a good job all year working together to come up with the plan of attack every game. He’s been awesome behind the plate.”