CHARLESTON, SC: The GreenJackets appeared to tie their Thursday night game on a fielder’s choice in the top of the 8th, but field umpire Bayron Matos took the run off the board by calling runner’s interference on Douglas Glod, proving the difference in a 5-4 final.
The chaotic sequence occurred with one out and men at first and third, with Roiber Niazoa hitting. Niazoa rolled a soft ground ball to the right side, which was chased down by Ricardo Gonzalez and flipped to 2nd.
Gonzalez’s toss beat Glod by a step, but it was clear Narciso Polanco had no play at first. Polanco improvised, throwing his body into Glod like a shooting guard begging for a foul in the NBA.
Despite a clean slide from Glod, Matos rewarded the fielder’s creation of contact with a runner’s interference call, wiping the run off the board and keeping Augusta behind.
The loss stings for a number of reasons, not least of which because of how solidly the team played in the first five innings. Owen Hackman did not allow a run in five quality frames, and departed with a 3-0 advantage.
The Jackets had scored twice in the 2nd on two-out RBIs from Leiker Figueroa and John Gil, and added to the advantage in the 4th when Roiber Niazoa brought Mason Guerra home on a two-out single.
For the second consecutive night, Augusta’s bullpen fell apart shortly after being called upon behind the starter. Samuel Mejia was set to piggyback Hackman, with the hope he could carry the Jackets to or near the finish line.
This would not come to pass, as Mejia gave up 3 hits and 3 walks in less than an inning to cede the lead to Charleston. Yirer Garcia’s first hit at home this year proved the tying blow, and an RBI fielder’s choice from Polanco put the home side in front.
Even after the calamity of a finish to the 8th inning, Augusta did its best to pull off another comeback in the 9th. After Douglas Glod had brought the team within one the previous inning, Figueroa began the 9th with a leadoff single, putting the tying run on.
Gil hammered a line drive to deep left center the next batter, but the wind pushed it skyward enough for Woo Shin to run it down in the gap. Two pop ups later, the game was at its end.
Augusta drops its second straight contest, both of which saw Augusta in the lead through five innings. Hoping for a reversal of fortune, ace Rayven Antonio takes the mound Friday, June 13, with the Jackets needing as much length as he can give them.
