RiverDogs suffer meltdown

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RiverDogs Splash Day

The Charleston RiverDogs hosted Splash Day as they took on the Greenville Drive Wednesday at Riley Park.

With temperatures in the high 90s Wednesday at Riley Park, it was hot enough for a meltdown.

The Charleston RiverDogs complied.

The RiverDogs lost to Greenville, 10-5, despite outhitting the Drive, 11-5, self-destructing in a bad mix of erratic pitching, baserunning blunders and ill-advised fielding decisions.

"Our pitching was bad," said Charleston manager Torre Tyson. "Our situational hitting was bad, the umpires were bad. We're not catching any breaks right now, and we're not making any breaks for ourselves. The guys who are supposed to be good for us have to be good for us. Today they were bad."

It was another bizarre outing for RiverDogs starting pitcher Andrew Brackman, whose control problems continued.

Brackman (1-7) didn't allow a hit in 3 2/3 innings, but gave up five runs — all earned — with eight walks and a wild pitch contributing greatly to his woes.

It may have also contributed to catcher Mitch Abeita's frustrations. Abeita spent most of his day digging Brackman's pitches out of the dirt or diving for those that sailed high and outside.

When his apparent solo home run down the left-field line in the fourth inning was ruled foul by home plate umpire Joey Amaral, Abeita was ejected in the subsequent argument.

However, there was no question about Will Middlebrooks' grand slam to left in a five-run Greenville fourth that put the Drive ahead 6-3.

The RiverDogs (3-4) cut it to 6-5 on Corban Joseph's two-run homer in the fifth, but the Drive (3-3) put the game away with four runs in the eighth.

One of the few bright spots for the RiverDogs was the debut of newly acquired pitcher Edwin Walker.

Walker pitched the final two innings, allowing no runs, hits or walks, while striking out one.

"He was the only one who could find the plate," Tyson said.

Ballpark fun

Squirt guns outnumbered baseball gloves Wednesday at Riley Park on "Big Splash Day" with patrons, mostly from local daycare centers and summer camps, encouraged to come to the game in bathing suits.

Coming up

The Drive and the RiverDogs meet in game three of the four-game series at 7:05 p.m. today. Stolmy Pimentel (6-3, 2.27 ERA) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Greenville. Charleston's starter was not announced.

As usual, it's "Thirsty Thursday" at the Joe, with $1 beer specials in the Ashley View Pub. Fans should be advised that Friday night's game, which will feature a Fourth of July fireworks display, is standing room only.