Rockers cook Birds, 8-2

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Braxton Davidson drove in three runs including a two-run homer as the High Point Rockers took game one of their series from the Charleston Dirty Birds on Tuesday night at GoMart Ballpark.

The win gives the Rockers a modest two-game winning streak and a 14-17 record in the Atlantic League. Charleston fell to 11-20. The Rockers are six games behind South Division leader Southern Maryland (20-11).

Charleston took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Carlos De La Cruz homered off High Point starter Yuhi Sako (W, 2-2).

The Rockers tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth when Max Viera drew a lead-off walk off Charleston starter Francisco Mateo (L, 2-2).

High Point went up 4-1 with three runs in the sixth. Viera’s lead-off double was followed by Braxton Davidson’s team-leading eighth home run of the season. Following a walk to Ryan McCarthy, who stole second, D.J. Burt drove in the third run of the inning with an RBI single.

High Point added two more runs in the seventh for a 6-1 lead when, with the bases loaded, Charleston reliever Riskiel Tineo threw a pair of wild pitches to bring home Nolan Watson who had singled and Viera, who also reached on an infield single.

The Rockers Patrick Sanchez singled with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth to increase the Rockers’ lead to 8-1.

The Rockers will be back on the field in a few hours as game two of the three-game series starts at 10:35 a.m. at GoMart Ballpark.  The Rockers will send lefty Ben Wereski (0-0, 0.00) to the mound to face Charleston’s Keyvius Sampson (0-2, 5.72). Rocker fans can follow the action live on HomeTeamLive.com (DugoutTV) or the audio broadcast on the free app MixLR.