Winston-Salem, NC- The Crawdads couldn’t overcome an early deficit on Wednesday evening, ultimately coming 90 feet shy of tying the game in the ninth as they fell 5-4 to the Charleston RiverDogs.
Crawdads starting pitcher Jesus Lafalaise allowed a pair of runs in both the second and third innings and a solo run in the fourth, as the ‘Dads feel behind 5-0. Lafalaise pitched a scoreless fifth, his final inning of work. He was charged with the loss to fall to 0-4 on the season.
Out of the bullpen, Owen Proksch struck out four in two innings of work without allowing a baserunner. Louis Marinaro and Luimy Munoz finished things out, each delivering a scoreless inning.
On offense, the Crawdads started chipping away in the bottom of the fourth, getting a run following three consecutive singles by Yolfran Castillo, Marcos Torres, and Josh Springer, followed by a sacrifice fly by Deward Tovar.
Doubles by Cal Stark and Hector Osorio in the fifth made it a 5-2 ballgame.
Another pair of doubles in the seventh, this time by Angel Arredondo and Osorio, brought the Crawdads within striking distance at two.
The Crawdads made the ninth inning dramatic, as the pinch-hitting Wady Mendez singled, took second on a wild pitch, and came in to score on a Stark double. Stark advanced to third on a fly out to bring the tying run within 90 feet, but a popup ended the game.
With the series even at one, the teams will play game three tomorrow. The first pitch time for tomorrow’s game has been moved up to 1pm due to forecasted storms later in the evening. Lefty Aidan Deakins will get the start for the ‘Dads.