Shorebirds put away the Toursits

ASHEVILLE — Delmarva used great pitching and two solo home runs to slow down the Asheville Tourists on Thursday night.

The Shorebirds bounced back from a heartbreaking 11-8 defeat on Wednesday night to edge the home team, 2-1, before a packed crowd of 3,973 at McCormick Field.

Three Delmarva pitchers limited Asheville to just six hits and two solo homers from Ryan Adams were enough to send the Tourists to just their third defeat in the last 16 games.

“This is a tough loss but that’s the way it goes,” said Asheville manager Joe Mikulik. “Delmarva’s pitching was tough tonight. We left some guys on base when we had chances but tip your cap to Delmarva.”

Left-hander Zach Britton pitched the first six innings and held Asheville to an unearned run and two hits, both by Everth Cabrera. He raised his record to 9-5, while striking out seven and walking none.

The Tourists had a little more success against Shorebird relievers’ Brian Parker and Mick Mattaliano as they got four hits in the last three innings. But Asheville left runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

The loss was a tough one for Tourists starter Sheng-An Kuo (8-6). He allowed just three hits but gave up homers to Adams in the third and sixth innings. The go-ahead homer was on an 0-2 pitch.

“Kuo threw well but he got two pitches up and that was the difference in the ballgame,” said Mikulik.

Kuo struck out nine and walked three in 6 2/3 innings of work.

Asheville made things interesting in the ninth when Darrin Holcomb doubled off the center-field wall to lead things off. Holcomb’s hit was originally called a home run by home-plate umpire Ben Robinson. However, Robinson consulted with base umpire Mario Seneca and called it a double. It was the right call according to Mikulik.

“No doubt about it was a double,” said Mikulik. “Sometimes it can be tough to see out in center field but the umpires made the right call. I have no problem with that.”

It was Holcomb’s league-leading 38th double of the year and it marked the 43rd straight game he has reached base, the best in professional baseball.

The teams will play the third game of their four-game set at 7 p.m. tonight at McCormick Field.