Potomac rally falls short as Myrtle Beach evens series

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- There was no celebration in the Potomac Nationals locker room on Tuesday night.

But instead of pouting after losing game two of the Mills Cup series 6-4 to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, there was a moment reserved to look ahead, even after Potomac's comeback bid fell short.

"We came back. Now they've got to come to our place," Nationals first baseman Andrew Lefave said as he tried to fill his teammates' minds with optimism before Potomac was to take its bus ride back to Woodbridge.

The series is tied 1-1 as it shifts to Pfitzner Stadium for the remaining three games.

Game three will be played Thursday as today is an off day.

"Anytime you leave Myrtle Beach 1-1, it's a good thing, but you'd always like to leave 2-0," Nationals manager Randy Knorr said.

After losing 15-0 in game one, the Pelicans showed in the second inning that they would not be blanked for the second straight night.

Travis Jones' three-run home run gave the Pelicans a 3-0 lead.

Ernesto Mejia increased Myrtle Beach's lead to 4-0 an inning later with a solo home run.

Both blasts came off Nationals starting pitcher Jeff Mandel, who also ran into trouble in the fourth.

Mandel walked leadoff batter Brandon Hicks and threw a wild pitch to send Hicks to second base.

Mandel struck out Jason Heyward and got Concepcion Rodriguez to fly out to shortstop.

But Gorkys Hernandez singled to advance Hicks to third.

Hicks and Hernandez scored on an error by Potomac center fielder Francisco Plasencia. Though Plasencia seemed to be in position, the ball Willie Cabrera hit sailed right past Plasencia's glove and Cabrera reached second base.

The Pelicans led 6-0 after Hernandez crossed the plate.

Potomac's offense got going in the seventh when Pelicans relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel entered the game.

Kimbrel began by walking Michael Burgess and then Jhonatan Solano.

Boomer Whiting struck out, but Dan Lyons singled to advance Burgess to third and Solano to second.

Michael Martinez singled to bring home Burgess and Solano to narrow Myrtle Beach's lead to 6-2.

Lyons went to second on Martinez's single, to third when Lefave walked and scored on Dee Brown's sacrifice fly.

Kimbrel exited after walking Lefave and was relieved by Nick Fellman.

Fellman gave up Brown's sacrifice fly and struck out Francisco Plasencia to end the top of the seventh.

Solano gave the Nationals their fourth run with a solo home run in the eighth.

Lefave walked with two outs in the ninth, but Brown lined out to end the game.

Mandel suffered the loss after giving up six runs, four earned, on five hits. He walked two and struck out four.