Rockers rally comes up short

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Charleston Dirty Birds survived a late rally from the High Point Rockers to take game three of the six-game series 7-6 Thursday night at GoMart Ballpark.

Trailing 7-2 in the eighth, the Rockers rallied for four runs, all with two outs, to pull to within one run. But Lance Lusk came out of the bullpen and retired Ivan Melendez on a called third strike with the bases loaded.

The loss puts the Rockers at 19-26 on the year while Charleston stands at 14-31.

For the second straight night, Melendez launched a home run to left in his first at-bat of the game, putting the Rockers up 1-0 in the top of the second. But Charleston answered back in the bottom half of the second when Carlos De La Cruz doubled and would score on a sac fly from Jhon Nunez to tie the game at 1-1.

Narciso Crook homered leading off the bottom of the fourth off Rockers starter Justin Jarvis (L, 0-1) to put the Dirty Birds ahead 2-1. The lead grew to 3-1 when Yassel Pino doubled and scored on a single by C.C. Randolph.

Nick Longhi hit a solo shot with one out in the sixth to cut High Point’s deficit to 3-2.

But the Dirty Birds rallied to score three times in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Daniel Blair. De La Cruz led off the frame with a double before Pino blasted a two-run homer. Randolph followed with a solo shot for a 6-3 Charleston advantage. De La Cruz extended the lead to 7-2 with an RBI single in the seventh.

The Rockers rallied for four runs in the eighth to close the margin to 7-6. Ryan McCarthy led off with a double and Luke Napleton and Longhi followed with singles to load the bases. After Riskiel Tineo struck out Max Viera and Braxton Davidson, Bryson Parks and Patrick Sanchez hit RBI singles before DJ Burt hit a two-run single.

The Rockers were able to put a man on base in the top of the ninth but Davidson flew out to the warning track in center to end the game.

Charleston starter Jordan Jackson (W, 5-3) went six innings nd allowed six hits and two runs while walking four and striking out four. Jarvis, in his first start as a Rocker, went four innings, allowing five hits and three runs while striking out two and not allowing a walk.

Melendez was two-for-five on the night with one RBI. Burt finished with three hits for the Rockers while Sanchez and Longhi each had a pair of hits. De La Cruz led the Dirty Birds with three hits.

Game four of the series is slated for a 6:35 p.m. start on Friday at GoMart Park. High Point will send RHP Yuhi Sako (2-4, 5.71) to the mound to face Charleston RHP Keyvious Sampson (0-3, 7.12). Rocker fans can follow the action on DugoutTV.org or listen to the audio broadcast on the free MixLR app.