The Delmarva Shorebirds rallied from an early four-run deficit and put the game away late to hand the BlueClaws a crippling 11-6 loss on a hot Sunday afternoon at FirstEnergy Park. Lakewood twice led by four early at 4-0 and 6-2, but the Shorebirds blasted their way to six runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead for good. The four-run comeback was the largest allowed by the BlueClaws this season.
The big rally came courtesy of three home runs, one each by Joe Nowicki, Walley Crancer and Anthony Martinez, off of Chance Chapman and Moises Melendez (2-1). Chapman was strong through the first five innings, but could not get an out in the sixth. He gave up five earned runs in five innings, walking three and striking out four.
Melendez found little more success than Chapman, allowing three straight to reach base, including back-to-back home runs by Crancer and Martinez.
The BlueClaws looked dominant early, racking up six runs in the first two innings against Delmarva All Star starter Sean Gleason. Lakewood tagged Gleason (3-0) for four runs in the first and two in the second, although two of the six went as unearned.
Michael Taylor helped the BlueClaws to the big lead by slugging his tenth home run of the season to deep centerfield. The BlueClaws picked up a home run, a triple, a double and a single in the first.
Two of the first inning runs went as unearned after Ryan Adams threw a T.J. Warren groundball into the BlueClaws dugout. Warren eventually came around to score, his 13th run in 13 games played with the BlueClaws (35-27). Warren finished the game 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as his 12 game hitting streak came to an end.
The Shorebirds put the game away late against reliever Zack Sterner, scoring three runs on four hits in the eighth inning. Replacement Pedro Silveren, Nowicki and Tyler Henson each had RBIs in the rally that put the game out of reach. Nowicki, who was named to the North Division All Star team, finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
The BlueClaws defeat ended a three-game winning streak against the Shorebirds (34-27). Lakewood fell to 1.5 games behind the Lake County Captains as of the final out of Sunday's game. Both sides have eight games remaining in the first half. Delmarva is a half game behind the BlueClaws.
Lakewood next heads to Hagerstown to play a four-game series in three days. First pitch for Monday is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with Darren Byrd (0-0) taking the mound for the BlueClaws. Lakewood does not face Lake County for the remainder of the first half.