Despite giving up just three hits, Adam Hall and his Delmarva Shorebirds teammates couldn't solve the Greenville Drive at the plate, falling 3-2 at Fluor Field at the West End.
Greenville opened the scoring thanks to a Shorebird mistake in the bottom of the third. With Jonathan Ortega at first after a walk and one out, Dylan Hardy hit a hard grounder to the left side. Shortstop Hall fielded and attempted a jump throw to second, but his throw sailed high and all the way to the side wall near first base. Ortega scored all the way from first to put the Drive up 1-0.
Delmarva answered in their next turn at bat. Will Robertson led off reaching on an error at short, then Jean Carlos Encarnacion executed a hit-and-run, singling Robertson to third. Seamus Curran came up next and hit a tough popup deep into foul ground at second. Second baseman Kervin Suarez got turned around as he busted over to make the catch, allowing Robertson to score on what became a sac fly for Curran to make it 1-1 in the fourth.
The Drive took control for good in the sixth. Hardy led off with a walk, then two batters later Devlin Granberg socked a liner to left that Robertson got turned around on, resulting in a double to put men on second and third. Jordan Wren then lashed a single into right to score Hardy and put Greenville in front again. After an intentional walk and a pitching change, Brandon Howlett belted a deep flyball to center for a sacrifice, scoring Granberg to make it 3-1 Drive.
The Shorebirds' best chance to rally came in the top of the eighth. Alexis Torres worked a leadoff walk against Yoan Aybar and took second on a wild pitch. After a flyout and groundout to move Torres up to third, Doran Turchin muscled a single through the left side, plating Torres to cut the Delmarva hole to 3-2. Robertson followed with a single to put the tying and go-ahead runs on base, but Browning came on from the bullpen and got Encarnacion to fly out to shallow center.
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