CHARLESTON, S,C. – Playing their second doubleheader in three days, the GreenJackets combined for bad luck and absent offense to drop both games on the day in their final meetings with the RiverDogs of 2024.
The opener of the day pitted Jacob Shafer and Santiago Suarez against each other, both facing an offense that had not had much success as of late. It was the RiverDogs who struck first, however, scoring all four of their runs in the second inning off of Shafer in his pro debut. Five straight men reached with one out on four singles and a walk, three of which were bloopers plopped into empty space. With the score already 2-0, Shafer appeared to have stopped the bleeding by inducing a two-out pop up to left field, but Junior Garcia dropped the routine play to score two more and double the lead.
The Jackets got their lone run of game one in the fifth off of Suarez, as Colby Jones manufactured his way around the bases. Jones singled, stole second, advanced on a throwing error and came home on a wild pitch to put Augusta on the board. Augusta had bases loaded with one out in the inning, but John Gil grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, one of three inning-ending twin killings in seven frames. Jonalbert Rumbol came on for the final six outs, inducing yet another double play to end the game and give Suarez his sixth win of the year.
Neither offense was greatly improved in the second game, with David Rodriguez and TJ Nichols each impressing early. Rodriguez did not allow a hit through three, and both walks were erased via a 9-2 double play and a pickoff. Trouble arose in the bottom of the fourth, when Narciso Polanco began the frame with a double that was misread and mishandled by Garcia in left to put the go-ahead run on. After a walk and two pop ups, Rodriguez worked to a two-strike count on Raudelis Martinez, but Martinez chipped a looper inside the left field line for a two-run double and the lead.
TJ Nichols would allow just three hits in five frames, all of them singles, and earn his first win since the month of June. David Rodriguez took the loss, while Andy Rodriguez picked up the save in his second game with Charleston after being called up eight days ago. The win made it four straight for Charleston, who at the moment sit three games above both the Columbia Fireflies and Myrtle Beach Pelicans for first in the Carolina League South Division.
The RiverDogs now head on the road to Kannapolis to battle the first-half champion Cannon Ballers in a potential playoff preview. Augusta, meanwhile, will return back to SRP Park to host the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in the penultimate homestand of 2024. For tickets, go to greenjacketsbaseball.com or call (803) 349-9467.
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