CHARLESTON, SC: Six scoreless frames from Jeremy Reyes were swept aside in one rally, as the RiverDogs scored three runs apiece in the 7th and 8th innings off of Kendy Richard to snatch away the lead and secure a 6-1 victory Thursday night.
Neither offense had much to celebrate early, as Reyes continued his dominant end of August, and opener Andrew Lindsay worked two hitless innings in his first start back off the Injured List. The GreenJackets sparked their only production in the top of the 4th, manufacturing a run against reliever Dominic Niman.
Niman struck out the first two men he faced in the 4th, but let Dixon Williams off the hook with a two-out walk. Williams stole second on the very next pitch, and raced home on a two-strike single for the game’s first run.
The run would be the only one surrendered by Niman, as he powered through five innings of one-run relief for the second straight outing.
With a lead intact, Reyes continued charging through the order, working six scoreless innings for his team-high 5th quality start of the year.
Jeremy has now allowed just seven hits and one earned run in his last three starts, spanning 19.2 innings. Unfortunately for Reyes, despite departing with the lead, he would not pick up the winning decision.
The RiverDogs were quick in their dismantling of Richard, as Derek Datil dropped down a perfect one-out bunt to put the tying run on. For the second straight night, Jose Monzon came up clutch, following Datil with a game-tying double to deep right.
After a popup produced the second out, Narciso Polanco untied the game on one swing, crushing a hanging slider over the wall in right to put the Dogs in front.
Charleston tacked on three more runs against Richard in the 8th, doing so on an RBI single from Yirer Garcia, another base hit from Monzon, and an E1 on Richard. Augusta drew three walks in the top of the 9th against Dylan Lesko, but could not bring home a run, as the offense was hitless in the final 4.1 innings to fall for a season-high sixth straight time.
The GreenJackets hope to stop the skid Friday night, Aug. 29, as Logan Forsythe makes his first professional start, with a bevy of arms set to piggyback behind him.
Augusta has nine games left in the regular season, and must win three of them to finish over .500 on the season.
