If the Asheville Tourists don’t see the Charleston RiverDogs pitching staff again there would be no happier group of guys in the South Atlantic League. In 27-innings so far in this series, the RiverDogs have allowed two-runs, all coming in the ninth-inning of Game 1. Saturday night it was Luis Cedeno’s turn. The right-hander allowed just two-hits over seven innings, striking 10 for his third win of the season.

The RiverDogs grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Austin Afenir singled to right field against Asheville starter Jesus Tinoco. Nathan Mikolas and Leonardo Molina delivered back-to-back singles to load the bases. Hoy Jun Park then drew a walk that scored Afenir and it was 1-0. It looked like this inning had the potential to be a huge one for Charleston, but Tinoco made some amazing pitches to eliminate any further damage. He got a ground out back to the mound by Alexander Palma to gun the runner at the plate, then struck out Gosuke Kataoh. With two down he induced a ground out to keep the deficit just one.

That would be all the runs that Tinoco would allow over the first six innings of the game. It was a spectacular pitchers’ duel between the two starters. While Tinoco was holding the RiverDogs to just one run, Cedeno was absolutely dominating the Asheville lineup.

Cedeno (3-2) retired the first 11 batters of the game, seeing his streak end when he allowed a two-out single in the fourth. The only other base runner he allowed was a lead-off single in the top of the seventh, and that runner was eliminated on a double-play. He struck out at least one batter in every inning, fanning 10 overall. Of his 80-pitches, 59 went for strikes.

Tinoco had pitched beautifully for the first six-innings. Finally, the RiverDogs were able to extend their lead in the bottom of the seventh. After retiring the first hitter of the inning, Palma hit his first homerun of the season for Charleston, extending the lead to two. That would be the final batter that Tinoco would face.

In the eighth, the RiverDogs extended their lead to three. With Justin Lawrence on the hill, Connor Spencer and Afenir led off with singles to put runners at the corners with no one out. A sacrifice fly by Mikolas scored Spencer with the final run of the game.

Cody Carroll pitched the final two innings for Charleston, earning his second save of the season. The RiverDogs relievers allowed just 1-hit while striking out 1. Diaz and Afenir each had tw0-hits.

These two teams will close out their four-game series tomorrow. Yefrey Ramirez (3-1, 3.14) will look to continue the amazing starting pitching run for the Charleston RiverDogs. Trey Killian (3-3, 5.22) will get the start for the Asheville Tourists. Game time is 5:05.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier