The Myrtle Beach Pelicans started the second half of the season by losing two of the best players, then they capped Thursday with a 3-2 comeback victory over the Frederick Keys.
Pelicans ace and all-star Cody Buckel and outfielder Jared Hoying received promotions to Double-A Frisco. Shortstop Hanser Alberto and pitcher Luke Jackson will replace the duo.
The Pelicans opened the second half of the Carolina League season on a good note, tackling the Frederick Keys with two runs in the eighth inning for a 3-2 win at Harry Grove Stadium on Thursday night.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Pelicans rallied with three consecutive hits off relievers Ryan Berry and Clay Schrader. Christian Villanueva began the rally with a one out double. Vin DiFazio then drove him in with an RBI single to right, tying the game at two. Berry was lifted at that point, but the damage continued with a single up the middle off Schrader from Tomas Telis. DiFazio scored for a 3-2 lead.
Pitching took over from there for Myrtle Beach. The Pelicans allowed only two hits in the game, with starter Wilmer Font earning his first quality start since his 2010 Tommy John surgery. Font went six innings, allowing one run on one hit, a Steven Bumbry double, in the third. The run came home after Bumbry was sacrificed to third. He scored on a wild pitch.
The second hit for Frederick was a solo homer from Ty Kelly off reliever Jimmy Reyes. The Keys third baseman scored to make it a 2-1 Frederick lead at that point. There were no other orange and black hits.
Myrtle Beach’s first run came in the sixth on a DiFazio infield single to score Teodoro Martinez. Cafe had reached on a single earlier in the sixth, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, nine shy of Odubel Herrera’s team record 22.
