Pelicans Lose it Late

The Pelicans allowed five runs in the final three innings to drop their fourth game of the second half of the season 5-2. Another crowd of over 5,000 gathered at BB&T Coastal Field on the heels of the California vs. Carolina league All-Star Game. The third largest regular season crowd in franchise history witnessed Potomac posting three runs in the seventh inning pacing them to the win.

Pelicans starter Chris Vines and Nationals starter Justin Jones put the pop in the catchers mitt and the game, going scoreless through the first two innings. The Pelicans plated the first run of the game in the bottom of the third.  Travis Jones opened the frame with a double down the left field line.  Concepcion Rodriguez then followed with an inside out double up the right field line to score Jones.

Vines and Jones controlled the offensives until the seventh when the P-Nats broke through for three runs in rather unorthodox fashion.  Back-to-back singles by Michael Martinez and Matt Rogelstad ignited the charge.  Then, Ernesto Mejia committed a throwing error his throw ricocheted off the back of Rogelstad, who was en route for second.  The ball caromed away from Brandon Hicks allowing Martinez to score.  Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, Dee Brown leaned into a curve ball to force home Rogelstad to give the P-Nats a 2-1 lead.  Then, a wild pitch by Vines plated Baez to stretch the lead to 3-1.

The Pelicans inched within one run in the bottom of the seventh.  Tyler Flowers lead off with his 59th walk of the season, which places him tied for fourth with Troy Cameron (2004) for walks in a single-season.  Following a two-base throwing error by Leonard Davis, Flowers scored on an RBI ground out by Concepcion Rodriguez. 

The Potomac Nationals iced away the game in the eighth and ninth innings by an adding insurance run in each. 

Although Vines was saddled with his first loss of the season, he controlled the P-Nats for the majority of the night.  In 6.2 innings, he allowed just four hits and two earned runs.  Vines retired 13 straight batters from the end of the first through the fifth.  Justin Jones picked up his second win with a six inning performance.  He surrendered just five hits and one run.