CHARLESTON, WV. – The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs dominated in the early innings tonight, but the Charleston Dirty Birds scored six unanswered runs in a 6-4 victory.
Derrick Adams (W, 2-4), the starter for Charleston, struggled early. The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs scored the first run of the game when Michael Wielansky blasted a solo shot over the wall in left-center field, giving the Blue Crabs a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Alex Crosby got things started when he ripped a triple down the right-field line. Two batters later, Braxton Lee grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Crosby and giving the Blue Crabs a 2-0 lead.
In the third, Southern Maryland struck again. Michael Baca led off the inning with a single and later advanced to second base. With two outs, Jared Walker ripped a double to deep center field, scoring Baca to put the Blue Crabs ahead 3-0. Two pitches later, David Harris slaps a double to deep right field, scoring Walker and giving the Blue Crabs a 4-0 lead.
Daryl Thompson pitched well for the first four innings, keeping Charleston off the board. In the fifth inning, Charleston rallied. After Thompson struck out Scott Burcham, the next three batters singled, as Scott Kelly roped a base hit into center, scoring Gonzalez and cutting the deficit to 4-1.
In the sixth, Charleston kept hitting. The first three batters singled to start the sixth, with Diego Goris driving in Juan Perez to cut the deficit to 4-2. With runners on first and second and no outs, Patrick Baker (L, 1-1) entered in relief of Thompson. Scott Burcham then bunted to the third base side, but Alex Crosby’s throw to first was wide, loading the bases. Yovan Gonzalez, the next batter, grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Nick Longhi. From there, Baker hit two batters, tying the game at 4-4. Patrick Baker then walked a batter, scoring Anfernee Seymour to give Charleston a 5-4 edge. With the bases loaded, Engel Beltre grounded into a fielder’s choice, scoring Tyler Blaum to put Charleston ahead 6-4.
From there, both teams were held off the board. Charleston turned to Tyler Wilson (SV, 8) in the ninth, who has thrown 17 consecutive innings without an earned run. Wilson sent the Blue Crabs down in order to secure the Dirty Birds’ save.
With the loss, the Blue Crabs fall to 33-12, but maintain an 11.5-game lead over the Long Island Ducks. The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs look to win the rubber game of the three-/game set tomorrow at 5 pm. The Blue Crabs return home on Tuesday when they host the Staten Island FerryHawks.