Eric Campbell was 4-for-4 and fell a triple shy of the cycle in the Sand Gnats, 5-2, win over the Lexington Legends in front of 5,015 at Applebee’s Park Friday night. Sean Ratliff added his ninth home run of the year when he homered in the eighth to put the game out of reach for the Legends, who had won four straight entering play Friday night.
The home club opened the scoring in the first when Chris Jackson tripled and come around to score on a fielder’s choice grounder to first by Ebert Rosario. It would be the only run that they would score until the ninth.
Starting pitcher Chris Schwinden (6-4) bucked the trend of rocky outings by starters in the series by tossing seven innings of one-run baseball. The Visalia, Calif. product allowed just one run on five hits and fanned four batters to give the Sand Gnats the quality start they were looking for. The seven innings pitched tied a season high for Schwinden.
Campbell gave the Sand Gnats the lead in the fifth when he homered with one away and Wilmer Flores on first. It was Campbell’s fifth blast of the year and his first since coming off the disabled list a week ago today.
Lexington did give the Sand Gnats a scare in the eighth when they loaded the bases against reliever John Church. Rhiner Cruz was summoned from the bullpen with one down and threw only one pitch to Rosario, who grounded into an inning-ending double play. Cruz allowed one run in the ninth but worked out of the jam to secure his 15th save.
The run that scored is the first to be charged to Cruz in any save opportunity this season.
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