In Wilmington, Delaware, the Lynchburg Hillcats ended up on the wrong side of a back-and-forth game Thursday, surrendering a 4-2 loss in their first road contest of the 2018 campaign.
With the game tied at 2 in the eighth, the Blue Rocks (3-5) scored twice to take the lead for good.
Rudy Martin drew a leadoff walk, Emmanuel Rivera singled, and Chris DeVito drove in both runs for Wilmington with his two-out single to right field.
The Hillcats had tied the game in the top of the eighth. After striking out Hillcats third baseman Gavin Collins, righty Ofreidy Gomez got in trouble in a hurry. Gomez walked four consecutive hitters and threw a wild pitch that allowed Emmanuel Tapia to score from third to knot the game at 2. Catcher Xavier Fernandez chased down the ball and flipped it to Gomez covering the plate, but the two couldn’t connect to make the play.
The Blue Rocks limited the damage, though, thanks to reliever Walker Sheller, who got Erlin Cerda to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Sheller (1-1) earned the win, allowing one hit in 1 2/3 innings of work.
Wilmington also scored one run apiece in the sixth and seventh innings.
Down 1-0 in the sixth, the Blue Rocks found an answer in Rudy Martin’s leadoff homer to right-center field. An inning later, Wilmington took the lead on a two-out RBI double from Xavier Fernandez.
Wilmington tallied five hits, while Lynchburg had seven.
Mitch Longo went 2 for 5, and Alexis Pantoja (1 for 5) picked up an RBI for the Hillcats (3-5) on his double that scored Cerda in the third.
The Hillcats left 11 runners on base.
Anderson Polanco (1-1) took the loss, giving up two hits and two earned runs, driving his ERA up to 10.80, in just one inning of relief.