Danville Braves score winning run on wild pitch

Mycal Jones trotted home from third with his right arm extended into the air, scoring the winning run on a wild pitch by Carlos Fortuna in the bottom of the ninth inning as Danville staved off the Burlington Royals 2-1 on Monday night at Dan Daniel Park to snap its season-high three-game losing streak.

“Coach Rungo was telling me that anything gets out of that clay circle, I’m gone,” Jones said, “so I was getting a pretty big lead over there, looking for something to get away from the catcher. As soon as I saw it get past him I knew I would score easy.”

The Braves (22-12), winners of all four games against the last-place Royals (10-23) this season, scored their first run of the game when Robbie Hefflinger scored from third on a passed ball in the second inning. It was a refreshing start for a club that had been knocked around early the last several games against Bluefield, falling behind 7-0 and 5-0 each of the previous two days.

“Getting out of the first inning and also avoiding the big inning, that’s been a problem for us of late,” D-Braves manager Paul Runge said. “And in our ballpark, if you fall behind early — this is a big ballpark — you can’t depend on the three-run homer here. If you happen to fall behind early and run into some good pitching, you’re in trouble and that’s been the case here at home.”

Danville stumbled in the ninth inning, when Appalachian League saves leader Thomas Berryhill walked Burlington’s leadoff batter on four pitches, the sixth walk issued by the D-Braves on Monday. A sacrifice bunt fielded by Berryhill and a groundout to second moved the runner over to third, and Miguel Moctezuma tied the game with a two-out double down the third base line, the first hit for the Royals since the second inning.

Berryhill was charged with a blown save, his second in his last three appearances, but also picked up the win after Danville’s score in the bottom of the ninth.

Jones ripped a one-out double to left-center field in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to eight games, take the league lead in extra base hits with 17 and put the winning run in scoring position. After a groundout to second moved Jones to third, a pitch in the dirt by Fortuna bounced to the backstop and allowed Jones to easily score.

“Whenever you’re at third base in that situation you’re looking for something down in the dirt, maybe a breaking ball in that situation,” Runge said. “We scored both of our runs that way tonight. Sometimes that’s the way the game goes. … Sometimes it isn’t always pretty, but we’ll take it.”

OBERHOLTZER ON A COUNT

D-Braves starter Brett Oberholtzer was pulled from the game after 3 2-3 innings with Danville leading 1-0 and a Burlington runner on second. The lefty allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one on 57 pitches.

Oberholtzer hadn’t pitched since taking a liner off his pitching hand in his most recent start, a home loss against the Elizabethton Twins on July 15.

Julio Surinach hurled 4 1-3 scoreless innings in relief, walking four and striking out three.

SPANJER-FURSTENBURG BACK TODAY?

D-Braves first baseman Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg, out since taking a pitch off his hand in the fourth inning against Bluefield on Friday, took batting practice Monday and may return to the lineup today.

“He’s had some nagging injuries that have come up and he’s up among the league leaders in a lot of offensive categories, so any time you’re missing a bat like that it takes away a little bit from your offense, which has been part of our problem,” Runge said. “He took batting practice today so we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. He’s real close. Hopefully he’ll be in the lineup (tonight).”

Spanjer-Furstenburg leads the team with a .411 batting average and six home runs. He is second on the team with 28 RBIs.

PITCHING TRIPLE CROWN

D-Braves pitchers Oberholtzer (1.61 ERA), Matt Crim (five wins) and Thomas Berryhill (six saves) were leading the Appalachian League in those respective categories entering Monday night’s action. Chris Masters was second with 39 strikeouts.

ON TAP

Danville LHP Tyler Stovall (1-0, 4.22 ERA) opposes Burlington RHP Leondy Perez (1-3, 3.03 ERA) at 7 p.m. today at Burlington in the second game of this four-game series.