The Fayetteville Woodpeckers (37-36, 5-3) clashed with the Delmarva Shorebirds (27-47, 3-5) in game five on Saturday night at Segra Stadium. Rafael Gonzalez was on the mound for Fayetteville against Brayan Orrantia of Delmarva.
In the bottom of the first inning with one out, Fayetteville third baseman Xavier Neyens hit a solo home run to right-center field to put the Woodpeckers up 1-0. It was his 11th home run of the season. With two outs, German Ramirez struck out swinging, and the inning was over.
In the bottom of the third inning, Fayetteville had runners on second and third base when German Ramirez hit an RBI single to second base, scoring Xavier Neyens for a 2-0 lead. With two outs, a groundout by Carlos Cauro ended the inning.
At the top of the fourth inning, Delmarva had a runner on third base when Raylin Ramos hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Miguel Rodriguez, and the Shorebirds trailed the Woodpeckers 2-1. Later, Delmarva had runners on the corners when Andrés Nolaya hit an RBI single to left field, scoring Elvin Garcia, and the game was tied 2-2.
Edwin Amparo followed up by hitting a two-run RBI double to right field, scoring Joshua Liranzo and Andrés Nolaya for a 4-2 lead. Fayetteville replaced Rafael Gonzalez with Jose Varela. With two outs, Jordan Sanchez lined out to center fielder Kenni Gomez, who made a nice diving catch to end the inning. Gonzalez went 3.1 innings, allowing five hits, four runs, four walks, and one strikeout, throwing 71 pitches, of which 36 were strikes.
Jose Varela went 1.2 innings, allowing a walk, and struck out three, throwing 32 pitches, of which 20 were strikes. Jesus Carrera pitched for Fayetteville at the top of the sixth inning. Delmarva had a runner on third base when Braylon Whitaker hit an RBI single to right field, scoring Edwin Amparo for a 5-2 lead. With two outs, a pop-out by Jordan Sanchez to third baseman Carlos Cauro ended the inning.
Moving to the top of the eighth inning, Delmarva had runners on the corners when Jordan Sanchez cleared the bases with a three-run home run to left field, extending its lead to 8-2. It was his fourth home run of the season. With two outs, Carrera struck out Elvin Garcia to end the inning. Jesus Carrera went three innings, allowing six hits, four runs, one walk, and five strikeouts, throwing 69 pitches, of which 46 were strikes.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Fayetteville had runners on the corners when Waner Luciano hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Hector Salas, and it was now 8-3. With two outs, a lineout by Josh Wakefield ended the inning.
Leomar Rosario pitched for Fayetteville at the top of the ninth inning. Rosario struck out one, throwing 12 pitches, of which eight were strikes, to get three outs.
Fayetteville would see its four-game winning streak come to an end with an 8-3 loss. They finished the night with eight hits, committed one error, went 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 men on base. Xavier Neyens went 1 for 2 with a home run, three walks, and an RBI. The loss went to Fayetteville starter Rafael Gonzalez (0-1), and the win went to Delmarva pitcher Kailen Hamson (4-4).
The Woodpeckers conclude the 12-game homestand on Sunday at 5:05 pm on the MLB App. Fayetteville has yet to name a starter, while Stephen Still (0-2, 4.07 ERA) will be on the mound for Delmarva.
