CHARLESTON, SC: One big inning was the difference Tuesday night, as the GreenJackets ceded four runs in the bottom of the 6th to the Charleston RiverDogs and were unable to come back in a 6-4 loss.
The Augusta offense came out firing in the first inning, stringing together three straight runners to snag an early 1-0 lead. John Gil worked a one-out walk off of starter Andres Galan, and scored the very next hitter as Tate Southisene crushed a double the opposite way for an RBI.
Southisene took third on a single from Owen Carey, but Galan retired the next two hitters to strand both runners.
Ethan Bagwell continued his run of solid starting pitching with five respectable innings, but the RiverDogs manufactured a pair of runs in the 2nd to swipe the lead from the GreenJackets. Ricardo Gonzalez began the inning with a walk, and Larry Martinez followed with a single.
Both men pulled off the double steal to enter scoring position, and Jose Monzon tied the game on an RBI groundout. Bagwell retired the next man he saw, but Narciso Polanco surprised the defense with a perfect two-out bunt to score Martinez for the lead.
Those two runs would be the last Bagwell would allow, and his offense went on the attack in the 6th against the Charleston bullpen to try to bail out their starter. Carey began the frame by singling off of Jacob Hartlaub, and Dixon Williams secured the lead with a grandiose two-run home run that traveled deep into the tree line behind right, putting Bagwell in line for the win for the moment.
That moment would be particularly fleeting, as new reliever Carter Lovasz struggled to put a stopper on the RiverDog bats in their very next chance. Another leadoff walk got the wheels turning, and a pair of singles from Tom Poole and Gonzalez tied the game.
Martinez continued his strong day next, ambushing a hanging slider from Lovasz for a two-run double and the lead. Charleston tacked on an extra run late in the inning on Felix Cotes’ first Single-A hit, leading 6-3 after the 6th.
It wasn’t until the 9th that Augusta summoned its last counter attempt, looking to take advantage of unusually erratic work from closer Andy Rodriguez.
With one out, Rodriguez walked the bases loaded, putting the tying run on first for the top of the order. Eric Hartman chopped a bouncer to first for both a run and the second out, but fortune favored the home side, as Gil misfired on a center-cut slider from Rodriguez and popped out to end both the rally and the game.
The GreenJackets have now lost six of their last seven games, but have a pair of chances to get back on track in Wednesday’s, Aug. 28, doubleheader. Both games will be seven innings, and game one is set to begin at 6:05 p.m.
Game two will start approximately 35 minutes after the conclusion of the first contest, providing a likely long night at the yard for both teams.
