Mudcats snap losing streak with 3-1 finale victory at Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg, Va. — The Carolina Mudcats snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory versus the Fredericksburg Nationals at FredNats Ballpark on Sunday night. Ernesto Martinez went 4-for-5 with a RBI double while extending his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games, Zach Mort earned his third victory and James Meeker struck out four batters in the ninth and five overall while earning his third save as Carolina earned a victory in the final game of the series.

The Mudcats (61-41) trailed 1-0 through the third before Zack Raabe tied the game with a RBI single in the fourth. Raabe ended up going 2-for-4 with his first RBI and his first multi-hit game since joining the Mudcats earlier in the series.

Carolina then broke the 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth while going up 3-1 on the Nationals (37-65). Sal Frelick and Tyler Black started the fifth with back-to-back walks while knocking starter Michael Cuevas (1-7, 3.67) out of the game. Reliever Bryan Pena followed and Martinez greeted him with a RBI double to bring in Frelick, while Wes Clarke drove in Black with a sacrifice fly.

Martinez went 4-for-5 in the game while running his hitting streak to 14 straight games, tied for the second longest for a Mudcat this season. Martinez also totaled three singles and a double while also recording his 16th multi-hit game of the season.

Mort started and earned his second win of the series while holding Fredericksburg to just one run on three hits over five innings pitched. Mort (3-0, 1.53) also won his third straight start since joining the Mudcats and finished the start with five strikeouts against two walks.

Relievers Jhoan Cruz, Kent Hasler and Meeker (S, 3) worked the final four innings of Sunday’s series finale and combined to hold the FredNats without a run and to just one hit the rest of the way. In all, Mort, Cruz, Hasler and Meeker combined to hold the Nationals to just one first inning run and three hits in the game.

Cruz struck out one over one inning in his first outing since returning from the injured list. Hasler struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit over an innings and 2/3.

Meeker then closed out the game and earned his third save after entering in the eighth and recording five straight strikeouts over an inning and a 1/3. Meeker additionally stranded two inherited runners and became the second Mudcats pitcher in franchise history to record four strikeouts in a single inning after punching out four in the ninth. One of his strikeout victims reached on a passed ball in the ninth, allowing Meeker the opportunity to reach four strikeouts in a single inning. Curtis Shaw was the last Mudcats pitcher to record four strikeouts in a single inning as he accomplished the rare feat on August 27, 1997 vs. Knoxville.

The victory snapped Carolina’s four-game skid, and when combined with a Down East Wood Ducks loss earlier in the day, lifted the Mudcats into sole possession of the league’s second-best overall record and second playoff spot. Carolina leads both Salem and Down East by just one game in the league’s overall standings.