CHARLESTON, SC – Jose Altuve went 3-for-5 with three RBI, as the Lexington Legends sank the Charleston RiverDogs, 8-4, in South Atlantic League action Friday night in front of 4,432 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
With the victory, the Legends improve to 2-1, while the RiverDogs have dropped two straight to fall to 1-2.
Lexington scored in the top of the third inning for a 1-0 lead, capitalizing off of two Charleston errors. Altuve roped a run-scoring double down the right-field line, but was thrown out at third by Taylor Grote, who recorded two outfield assists in the frame.
Charleston responded with two runs in the bottom half, when Rabago lined a RBI single to centerfield bringing home Francisco Arcia from third, who walked, moved to second on Kelvin Castro’s bunt single and took third when third baseman Jonathan Meyer failed to handle a throw cleanly on Ray Kruml’s sacrifice bunt attempt, to tie the score at 1-1. Castro then scored on DeAngelo Mack’s RBI groundout, giving the RiverDogs the 2-1 lead.
The Legends pushed three across in the fifth for a 4-2 advantage. Meyer opened up the fifth by crushing a double into left-center and scored on a throwing error by Rabago after Brian Kemp’s infield single. Kemp then came home off a Grant Hogue single, bringing the score to 3-2. Hogue then stole third with two outs and darted home on a wild pitch making the score to 4-2.
Charleston came back again to knot the score at 4-4 in the sixth, when Rob Lyerly opened up with a single, and Grote drove him home with a double into left. Grote would score on Castro’s two-out RBI single to centerfield.
Lexington broke the tie in eighth assuming 6-4 lead off reliever Francisco Rondon (0-1) on Altuve’s single that brought home a pair.
In the bottom of the inning, the RiverDogs brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but Kirk Clark (1-0) fanned Castro on a 3-2 heater to end the threat.
Two more runs came plateward in the ninth for Lexington off Ronny Marte on Jake Goebbert’s two-run home run to right field for the eventual 8-4 final.
Neither starter figured in the decision, as RiverDog Sean Black lasted 5.0 innings allowed four runs – two earned – on four hits, while Lexington starter Robby Donovan hummed 5.0 innings surrendering two runs – none earned – on six base hits.
Charleston’s 10 hit attack was paced by Kruml, Castro, Lyerly and Grote, who had two hits each.
Game 4 of this four-game series is set for Sunday at 5:05 pm, with Charleston sending right-hander Jose Ramirez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound while right-hander Jose Cisnero (0-0, 0.00 ERA) toes the rubber for Lexington.
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