HICKORY, NC: Cam Caminiti worked four scoreless innings, and David Rodriguez retired 15 of 16 batters he faced in relief, as the GreenJackets shut out the Crawdads 6-0 on Wednesday night.
Caminiti ran into a bit of trouble early, as a double, walk, and hit by pitch loaded the bases with two outs in the first.
Despite the high pitch count, Caminiti would strike out Luis Marquez to strand all 3 runners, and settled in nicely afterwards with three more scoreless frames.
The Jackets offense was quiet as well through three innings, but came alive in the 4th to chase starter Enrique Segura and hand him his first losing decision of the season.
A walk and double set the stage with no outs, and Colby Jones beat out an infield single to open the scoring. Productive outs from Colin Burgess and Elio Campos each brought home runs to end Segura’s night, and Augusta posted three straight baserunners against the bullpen to add one more run of insurance.
Caminiti took the mound for the top of the 5th, but a leadoff single from Pablo Guerrero, combined with a rising pitch count, forced him from the game.
Enter David Rodriguez, who calmly mowed through each of the first 12 batters he faced, to completely quell any thoughts of retaliation from the Hickory offense.
The GreenJackets posted a pair of late runs against the bullpen, as Campos singled home a run in the 5th against Michael Cherry, and Joe Olsavsky drew a bases-loaded walk from Michael Trausch in the 7th to bring the team total to six for the second straight night.
Hickory finally brought on a baserunner against Rodriguez in the 9th, thanks to a leadoff single from Hector Osorio.
Rodriguez remained undaunted, and sat down the next three batters to complete the shutout and earn his 5th win of the year.
The win was Augusta’s 5th shutout of the season, and first that went a full nine innings. Additionally, all nine offensive starters reached base safely, as the bats continue to awaken from their drowsy return from the All-Star break.
Thursday, July 24, Jeremy Reyes looks to keep his run of solid pitching going, hoping for more run support after his offense was no-hit in his start last Friday.
