LYNCHBURG, VA – Prior to Tuesday night’s game at Bank of the James Stadium, the Fayetteville Woodpeckers (38-46, 8-10) were 0-35 this season when trailing after the eighth inning. That all changed thanks to a three-run top-of-the-ninth inning that propelled the Woodpeckers to a 5-4 win, stunning the Lynchburg Hillcats (39-44, 8-11) in the first of six games this week between the two clubs.
Trailing 4-2 entering the ninth inning, the Woodpeckers were facing an uphill battle against Lynchburg closer Tomas Reyes (L, 1-1), who had allowed just two runs over his first 16 appearances of the season. Fayetteville took a patient approach to put pressure on Reyes as the lefty walked Tyler Whitaker and Luis Baez before he hit Garrett McGowan with a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
After Jackson Loftin popped out for the first out, John Garcia drew a six-pitch walk to push home Whitaker and cut the lead to 1. That brought Sandro Gaston to the plate to drive a 1-1 pitch over center fielder Wuilfredo Antunez’s head to score Baez and pinch runner Leosdany Molina, giving the Woodpeckers their first lead of the game.
It was Gaston’s team-leading 16th double of the season.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jeremy Molero (SV, 3) came on for the Woodpeckers, looking to close out the ballgame. He got Jordan Brown to ground out before Marc Fila worked a walk to put the tying run on for the Hillcats. However, the latter was thrown out by Fayetteville catcher Luis Encarnacion while trying to get into scoring position on a steal attempt for the second out.
Molero then struck out Angel Zarate to secure the comeback victory.
Trey Dombroski put together another solid outing on the mound, going five innings and striking out five batters. However, he surrendered a two-run home run to Angel Zarate in the third and a solo homer to Carson Tucker in the fifth.
The Woodpeckers managed to remain within striking distance thanks to a Garcia RBI single in the fifth and a Baez RBI double in the sixth. Baez has three doubles in his first two games since being promoted to Fayetteville on Saturday.
Lynchburg extended its lead to 2 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a throwing error by Loftin and was well on its way to breaking the game open in the eighth. But Woodpeckers reliever Ian Foggo (W, 1-2) managed to escape a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to end the inning and set the stage for his team’s ninth-inning comeback.
Fayetteville will look for its third straight win on Wednesday with left-hander Jose Nodal getting the start. The Lynchburg starter is still to be determined.
The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Box score: https://www.milb.com/gameday/727783/final/box
