NORTH AUGUSTA, SC: The Charleston RiverDogs scored four unanswered runs in the final two innings to tie the game, but Owen Carey laced a walk-off single to score Jake Steels and hand the RiverDogs a 5-4 defeat.
While there were plenty of late fireworks, the ballgame began with a pitchers’ duel, as Luke Sinnard and Trevor Harrison matched each other pitch for pitch to stonewall the opposing offenses.
Sinnard fired 5.1 scoreless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 13 frames, but Harrison’s equally impressive outing meant Luke left the mound with yet another tough-luck no-decision.
Harrison was every bit the stopper Sinnard was, as he held the Jackets at bay through five innings. Two doubles and a walk in the third provided Augusta its best chance early, but Isaiah Drake’s hard grounder was played well at short by Ricardo Gonzalez to keep Augusta off the board.
After Jacob Kroeger came on behind Sinnard and sealed the top of the 6th, Augusta finally lit up the scoreboard in the bottom half.
Carey began the inning with his second double of the day, and sped to third on Eric Hartman’s single. Harrison earned one out before leaving the game, giving way to Jonathan Russell.
Colby Jones gave Russell a rude hello, roping an RBI single to open the scoring. Mason Guerra followed with a liner that scored two, and came home himself on a Luis Sanchez double that gave the GreenJackets a 4-0 lead.
Kroeger sailed smoothly through the 7th, but was blown off course in the 8th as Charleston began to but the wheels of a comeback in motion.
Narciso Polanco and Theo Gillen each slapped one-out singles to set the stage, and a walk loaded the bases. Kroeger continued to narrowly evade the zone, and issued a second walk that brought home his first run allowed since April 6th.
The Jackets then brought in Trent Buchanan, who induced a sac fly and grounder to strand two of three inherited runners.
Augusta’s lack of a run in the bottom of the 8th against lefty Bryce Shaffer kept the door open for the Dogs, and Charleston kicked that door down in the 9th.
A single and two walks against Buchanan loaded the bases with one out, before Buchanan punched out Gillen on a high heater to bring the RiverDogs down to their final out.
With backs against the wall, Charleston turned to top prospect Brailer Guerrero, and the powerful lefty met the moment with a game-tying two run single that knotted the score at four apiece.
Needing just one run to win in the bottom of the 9th, it was an unlikely hero that began the rally. In his SRP Park debut, catcher Josnaider Orellana worked a one-out walk to put the winning run aboard.
On the very next pitch, Orellana again came up big, hustling out to second ahead of the throw to give John Gil an infield single. Orellana was then lifted for a pinch runner, as the speedster Jake Steels took second.
That brought Carey to the plate, and Carey got ahead 3-0 before ambushing a fastball from Shaffer. Carey seared it into right field, and Steels came diving home ahead of the throw to give Augusta its third walk-off win of the year.
The Jackets have now won three straight games, including each of the first two games of the week against the RiverDogs. A chance to keep the good mojo going comes around on Thursday, May 22, as the Jackets take the field as the Pavos Salvajes de Augusta for the first time with Jeremy Reyes on the hill at 7:05 p.m.
