Bill Hass on Baseball:Hoppers, Tourists to resume at 10-10

Hoppers, Tourists to resume at 10-10
from Bill Hass with Bill on Baseball(Greensboro Grasshoppers) at www.gsohoppers.com

A game that featured numerous twists and turns had a final one Thursday night at NewBridge Bank Park.

It isn’t over.

Asheville and Greensboro thrashed their way to a 10-10 tie through 10 innings before rain finally caused it to be suspended. It will be resumed Friday at 6 p.m., with the Tourists batting in the top of the 11th inning, and played to its conclusion. The regularly-scheduled game will follow some 30 minutes later and, by rule, will go a full nine innings.

Both teams will have to sort out who will start the resumption of Thursday’s game. Trent Daniel of Asheville and Esmerling de la Rosa of Greensboro, the last pitcher used by each team, both pitched two innings and won’t return. Compounding the situation is the unknown of how many innings it will take to complete the game. Jarlin Garcia is the Hoppers’ scheduled starter for the regular game that will follow.

Home runs were the norm Thursday, with the Tourists slugging five and the Hoppers three. Asheville stormed to a 5-0 lead but the Hoppers rallied for five runs in the bottom of the third. It was tied again at 6-6 before Greensboro finally surged ahead in the seventh on solo homers by Carlos Lopez and Coco Johnson, who entered the game after Austin Dean suffered a groin pull.

The Tourists got a run back, but the Hoppers added two more in the eighth on a homer by Juan Avila and an RBI groundout by J.T. Riddle. That staked reliever Sam Alvis, who allowed one run in four innings, a 10-7 lead going into the top of the ninth. De la Rosa came in to protect it.

After giving up a single, De la Rosa got two outs. Wilfredo Rodriguez then slugged a two-run homer that cut the lead to 10-9, but at least the bases were empty. Ryan McMahon then pulled a pitch over the right field fence for a homer to tie it.

Each team threatened in the 10th. Asheville loaded the bases and Emerson Jimenez hit a fly ball deep enough to score Ashley Graeter from third — but Graeter was called out for leaving the base too early and the inning ended.

The Hoppers then loaded things up with one out in the bottom of the 10th. Riddle struck out and Rehiner Cordova hit a slow chopper to second base and was called out on a close play at first. Plate umpire Robert Waterhouse then waved for the tarp to be pulled and, after the 30-minute wait, the game was suspended.

NOTES: It didn’t get as much attention as other deals at the major league trade deadline, but the Marlins made one that sent last year’s No. 1 pick, Colin Moran, to Houston. It was a stunning move to deal Moran, the sixth overall pick in 2013, after one year. The UNC product played 42 games with the Hoppers last season and hit .299 with four homers and 23 RBIs. In 89 games with Jupiter this season, he was hitting .294 with five homers and 33 RBIs. He was packaged with outfielder Jake Marisnick and right-hander Francis Martes and in return the Marlins got pitcher Jared Cosart, utility player Enrique Hernandez and outfielder Austin Wares. Cosart (9-7, 4.41 ERA) is the centerpiece for Miami and will move into its rotation … Dustin Moseley, who pitched one game for Greensboro in his comeback attempt from shoulder surgery, has pitched twice at Double-A Jacksonville. On Wednesday he threw seven innings, allowed just three hits, two runs (one unearned), one walk and two strikeouts in picking up the win.