Greensboro Grasshoppers ride piggy-back effort from pitchers Omar Cruz and J.C. Flowers, plus fireworks from Matt Frazier, Jesus Valdez and Grant Koch:Hoppers top WS Dash, 7-2

Baseball Final from Saturday night at First National Bank Field:
Greensboro Grasshoppers 7, Winston-Salem Dash 2
WP:Omar Cruz(1-3)
LP:Isaiah Carranza(1-5)
SV:J.C. Flowers(1)

Hoppers(14-15)/Dash(15-14)

Hoppers' line:7-10-1
Dash' line:   2- 5-3

Attendance:6,742
Time of Game/TOG-2:47

The six-game series between the Greensboro Grasshoppers and the Winston-Salem Dash reached Game Five for 2021 tonight/Saturday night at First National Bank Field, and the Grasshoppers took Game Five, 7-2, over the Dash…The current six-game set now sits at Three-Games-to-Two, in favor of the WS Dash, with Game Six due up on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, at FNB Field…

The Hoppers were down 3-0 in the series after the Thursday night game, but after they blistered the Dash, 17-3 on Friday night, the Hoppers came back out on Saturday night and jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Saturday, the Greensboro boys never looked back….

Greensboro got a great starting effort from former hard-luck loser Omar Cruz, as Cruz had on his good luck shoes, and he was able to hold the Dash at bay, on his way to five full innings from the starting rotation, on Saturday night…Cruz was (0-3) coming in, but he left the game at (1-3), after his five-inning effort included him giving up no runs, on three hits, while walking two Dash batters, and he struck out seven Winston-Salem hitters…Cruz should snooze good on Saturday night, after the work he turned in on the hill, at the ballpark…

Cruz did give up two home runs, but both of the HR’s were solo homers, and those two Dash solo home runs, did not hurt the Hoppers at all on Saturday night…Omar Cruz was the right man in the right spot on Saturday night, and he was working from the left side of the mound….

After five strong innings from Omar Cruz, the Greensboro Grasshoppers looked/turned to their bullpen, and in came J.C. Flowers…This was the first game at FNB Field for Flowers, and the former Florida State Seminole did not disappoint…Flowers, a native of Orange Park, Florida, gave the Hoppers four strong innings of relief pitching from the bullpen..John Carson/J.C. Flowers was the perfect compliment to starter Omar Cruz…

The duo/combo worked out like they were doing a “Piggy-Back” effort for the Hoppers…Five innings from Cruz, and the four from Flowers…A two-man pitching performance that protected and gave the bullpen some much needed rest, on a productive Saturday night….You have to hope the work turned in by Flowers is a positive sign of good things to come from the pen in the future…Four innings, and Flowers gave up no runs, on two hits, walked none and he struck out four Dash batters…

Kudos and 11 K’s coming from the Hoppers’ pitching staff on Saturday night…..

We could see some of the talent Flowers possessed coming into Saturday night’s game…At Florida State, in 2019, Flowers worked in 23 games, and he earned 13 saves from the FSU Seminoles’ bullpen…At the plate, Flowers batted .266, and he hit 13 home runs, and he drove in 53 runs for FSU…Flowers could turn out to be a pretty good hitting pitcher in the majors one day….

The Greensboro Grasshoppers had some pretty good hitters themselves on Saturday night…..Matt Frazier connected for his fifth HR of the season in his first at-bat, when he led off for the Hoppers hitters in the bottom of the first inning…The lead-off man in the bottom of the second was Jesus Valdez, and he did the same thing that Frazier did….Valdez sent a fair ball to left field, that left the yard, giving the Grasshopper a 4-0 lead….Frazier’s early moon shot bounced off the batter’s eye in center field…Then in the seventh inning, Grant Koch, the Hoppers’ catcher got in on the long-ball contest, when Koch got in the book, with a two-out solo shot to left field….

The Hopper long-ball hitters were on their game on Saturday night, with Frazier, Valdez, and Koch giving the hometown fans an early taste of the fireworks that would fill the sky in full force, at the completion of the game….

Excellent “Piggy-Back” pitching, very timely home run hitting, and in the end the Greensboro Grasshoppers picked up another key victory on Saturday night….

Another key play/gem in this game was a defensive web gem, that came from shortstop Liover Peguero…In the sixth inning, the WS Dash’ third baseman Luis Curbelo was at the plate, and lifted a pop-up that was going foul down toward the tarp, near the Hoppers’ bullpen bench….Left fielder Matt Frazier was coming in for the ball, and third baseman Jared Triolo was going back for the ball, but Peguero came across from his SS spot, moving to his right at a strong angle, and somehow, even as his body was turning sideway, Liover Peguero made the catch…And a super catch and pop-up play it was….Might have been the Defensive Play of the Night…

The Grasshoppers got solid support from all phases of the game, and they earned the 7-2 win….

Let’s take a look at how the Hopper hitters did on Saturday night, and find where their 7 runs and 10 hits came from…

Hoppers’ hitters: Matt Frazier 2-4/2 BB’s/HR/2 Runs(Frazier leaves the game batting a team-leading .306)…Liover Peguero 0-4/BB/SB…LoLo Sanchez 1-3/2 BB’s/2 Runs…Fabricio Mascias 2-4/HBP/Run/RBI…Jared Triolo 1-2/2 BB’s/RBI/SB…Grant Koch 2-4/HR/2 RBI(Grant Koch with 6 RBI over his past two games.)…Will Matthiessen 1-4…Jesus Valdez 1-4/HR…
Dash’ hitters: Ian Dawkins 1-4/HR…Yolbert Sanchez 1-3/BB…Luis Curbelo 1-4…Travis Moniot 2-3/Double/HR…

Plenty of fun had by all at FNB Field on Saturday night, and here comes Sunday afternoon, and the final game of the Six-Game home stand….Sunday at 2pm you’ll see RHP Carmen Mlodzinski taking the hill for the Hoppers, while RHP Davis Martin will toe the rubber for the Dash….

The Hoppers will be going for a Three-Game split in the Six-Game series, so be sure to come out and support the local team…You can also Listen Live to the game when you head over to GSOHoppers.com and CLICK HERE….