Bullpen leads Mudcats to 9-6 triumph

Myrtle Beach, SC – The Carolina Mudcats’ bullpen gave a strong effort in a 9-6 triumph over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Friday night at TicketReturn.com Field.

Dale Dickerson (5-2), Shawn Armstrong and Grant Sides combined to hold the Pelicans (6-3, 42-37) to two runs over the final seven innings. Dickerson entered the game in the third, and allowed one run on one hit over three innings to earn the win.

Sides tossed the final two frames to record his third save in four appearances for the Mudcats (6-3, 38-41).

Randol Rojas (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up seven runs on a season-high 11 hits.

Rojas entered Friday’s game without allowing an earned run over his last 17 innings. The Mudcats quickly changed that, however, as Tyler Holt and Tony Wolters ripped back-to-back doubles for a 1-0 lead. Wolters later scored on a ground out by Jesus Aguilar.

Myrtle Beach tied the game 2-2 on a 2-run blast from Christian Villanueva in the bottom of the first against Will Roberts. Roberts would leave the game after two innings, allowing four runs on four hits.

Ronny Rodriguez became the third Mudcat to crack two home runs in one game. As the teams swapped the lead, Rodriguez launched his first of the night to lead off the second, giving Carolina 3-2 lead. His second tied the game 5-5 in the fourth.

After trailing 5-3, Carolina closed the game by outscoring Myrtle Beach 6-1.

Every hitter in the Mudcats’ lineup reached in the game. Rodriguez paced the offense with two home runs. Bo Greenwell had a game-saving catch with the bases loaded in the seventh to complement his two doubles. Anthony Gallas finished with two doubles, Wolters had two hits and two RBI and Giovanny Urshela knocked in pair.

Carolina and Myrtle Beach play the rubber match of this series at TicketReturn.com Field on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m..