(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
CHARLESTON – The Augusta bullpen had to cover 8.1 innings Saturday night, but four relievers combined to allow zero earned runs as the GreenJackets (6-2, 41-33) battled to a 7-5 win over the Charleston RiverDogs (4-4, 41-33).
GreenJackets starter Jeremy Reyes was forced from the game after just two-thirds of an inning, as walks and an error elongated the frame and led to four runs on his ledger in less than an inning. While Adiel Melendez stopped the bleeding, the inning killed the momentum Augusta had garnered after a two-RBI single from Dallas Macias highlighted a three-run top of the first against Ethan Storm.
Melendez didn’t slow down after the first, cruising through the next three innings without a run allowed as he posted his longest outing as a pro and his fourth win of the season. The offense backed him up, tying the game in the 2nd on an RBI grounder from Alex Lodise and taking the lead on an RBI single from Tanner Smith.
Both bullpens began to trade zeroes after the top of the third, with Cristobal Abreu using a key double play to survive four free passes behind Melendez. It was not until the seventh that Augusta broke back onto the scoreboard, loading the bases against Jacob Kuhn before Junior Garcia lofted a sacrifice fly against Trendan Parish to double the lead.
The RiverDogs’ lone run against the pen was in response to the sac fly, and came unearned in the bottom of the seventh. With a man at first and one out, Carter Lovasz threw a pickoff attempt down the line to move the runner Nicandro Aybar to second. Aybar rounded and headed for third, and Juan Mateo’s throw from shallow right skipped under Cody Miller’s glove and into the dugout to score the runner all the way from first.
Neither side added to the total in the eighth, as Lovasz utilized yet another double play to face the minimum. It was in the top of the 9th that the Jackets garnered a mammoth piece of insurance, as Smith clubbed a 3-2 slider deep over the left field wall. The home run was Smith’s second in as many nights, and made him the second GreenJacket with at least ten home runs this year.
With the lead doubled, Augusta turned to Styven Paez for the save, and Paez obliged in predictable fashion. The righty allowed a one-out walk to Felix Cotes, before inducing the fourth and final double play of the night to end the game and hand Augusta its third win in five tries this week.
One more meeting is left on the calendar between Augusta and Charleston this week, a 5:35 p.m. finale Sunday before the Jackets head home for a two-week homestand. Davis Polo, Augusta’s active strikeout leader, toes the rubber against Aidan Haugh, who earned the win for the RiverDogs on Tuesday.
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