Top Storylines
- Jose Gutierrez twirls a gem. The righty worked seven scoreless innings around five hits and no walks. He struck out three batters before passing the ball to the bullpen in a scoreless game.
- Josh Hammond slapped a pair of hits in Saturday’s game. The righty now has 123 hits on the season, which is the second-most in a single season in franchise history. He trails leader Ronnie Mauricio by three. The Major Leaguer had 126 hits in the 2019 season for the Fireflies.
- Yeri Perez kept his hot stretch rolling. The righty 1.2 hitless innings tonight. Across his last six outings, Perez has spun 10.1 innings and has allowed only two earned runs.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jose Gutierrez spun an incredible outing for the Fireflies, but Augusta rallied for five in the top of the eighth and the Fireflies fell to the GreenJackets 5-2 Saturday night in front of a sell-out crowd at Segra Park.
Gutierrez went seven scoreless innings in his sixth quality start of the season. He struck out three to keep the game scoreless late, but Augusta tallied five across two innings against the Fireflies to earn the win.
Josh Hammond finished the night 2-4 with a pair of singles. The righty now has 123 hits on the season, just three back of Ronnie Mauricio’s franchise-best 126 from the 2019 season.
Play-by-Play
Jose Gutierrez twirled a dazzling start in the no-decision. Columbia’s righty worked seven innings for the second time this season (June 16 at Hickory). He worked around five hits to hold Augusta without a run and handed the ball to the bullpen after recording three strikeouts.
On the other side, Luis Arestigueta answered the call to the pitcher’s duel. Arestigueta worked five scoreless innings around four hits and two walks. He struck out four prior to passing the ball to Nico Wagner.
Augusta cracked the score column first, the second Columbia went to the bullpen in the top of the eighth inning. Justin LeGuernic (L, 1-2) allowed four-straight hits out of the shoot and then gave up three walks before getting the hook. LeGuernic’s lone out was a sacrifice fly to Cooper McMurray. After LeGuernic left the game, Yeri Perez allowed one of two inherited runners to score and at the end of the frame, Augusta led 5-0.
In the home half of the eighth, Henry Ramos and Yandel Ricardo drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Roni Cabrera lined an RBI single through to score Ramos and get Columbia on the board and then Camden Johnson flew a sacrifice to the warning track to cut the GreenJackets lead to 5-2.
Nico Wagner (W, 1-0) closed out the game with four innings of two-run baseball to earn the win in his first Carolina League appearance.
On-Deck
Columbia closes out their series with the Augusta GreenJackets tomorrow night at Segra Park at 5:05 pm. LHP Darwin Rodriguez (5-6, 4.04 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Augusta counters with RHP Brody Fowler (0-1, 7.63 ERA).
Tomorrow night is Grateful Dead Night at Segra Park. The first 1,000 fans through the gates at 6 pm will receive a Grateful Dead-themed t-shirt. There will be live music from Grateful Head tribute fan Stillhouse and a drum circle playing during the game. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.