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KANNAPOLIS— Give a big thumbs up to Ryan Madson for his win Friday night over the Macon Braves.
Madson gutted out five innings with a right thumb that had the skin peeling off. He then watched Mark Outlaw rob the Braves of any chance to rally in a 4-2 Piedmont Boll Weevils victory in front of a raucous crowd of 3,018.
If there is such a thing for a 79-game winner, Friday night was a much-needed win for the Weevils (79-40, 32-16), who have several players slumping, and several others hurting. It gave Piedmont a split in the four-game series.
Madson, who won’t turn 20 until Aug. 28, was one of those injured Weevils coming in. The blister on the thumb of his pitching hand had kept him out of his scheduled start Wednesday.
And when the skin finally peeled off in the top of the fifth with two outs, manager Greg Legg had a decision to make with a 4-0 lead: let Madson finish the fifth and be the pitcher of record or replace him with Elio Serrano.
“Legger said he didn’t care, this game didn’t matter,” said Madson. “He just didn’t want me to get worse.Itold him, ‘Let me get this last out.’”
Legg left him in, despite concerns.
“We knew by the way he threw his last 8-to-10 pitches that the thumb was hurting,” he said. “But I’ve been with him for three years. He’s a competitor and he looked me right in the eye. So I let him have one more batter, whether he got him out or not.
Madson came through, striking out Curt Fiore and then relied on his teammates.
“This is an awesome team,” smiled Madson, who improved to 11-5. “It’s not hard to get a win on this team if you just throw strikes.”
While his two relievers did the job on the mound, it was another new name on offense that became a big name: Kevin Sullivan.
The backup catcher, who only joined the Weevils a couple of weeks ago, got things going in the fourth. With the bases loaded, he unloaded on Macon starter John Ennis (6-4), sending a shot to right field, scoring designated hitter Russ Jacobson and Brian Hitchcox. An error by Asdrubal Oropeza — his 30th miscue of the year — allowed Dan O’Neill to score and Sullivan came around on Jay Sitzman’s fielder’s choice.
“(Ennis) threw me a fastball away,” said Sullivan, hitting in the No. 8 hole. “When I’m down there, I really expect to get pitches like that. Idon’t care how hard they throw it, I know I can hit the fastball.”
After Madson went out, the only drama left came in the sixth when Serrano surrendered two runs. But he came back with a perfect seventh, handing the ball to the lefty Outlaw.
“I thought the seventh was the biggest inning,” said Legg. “Serrano had a chance to bounce back real nice. And over the last two innings, Outlaw was phenomenal.”
Picking up his 10th save, Outlaw struck out four, including Nick Crocker and Justo Rivas looking to end the game.
“I’m real happy with the split,” said Legg. “Macon kept pressure on us. This is the first night we weren’t constantly in trouble.
“It’s a tribute to those guys in there,” he said, pointing into the clubhouse. “Half the battle is thinking you’re going to win.”
The other half, as Madson proved Friday night, is thinking you can win by pitching with just four fingers.
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NOTES: The teams combined for 17 errors in the four games. ... Madson gave up no runs, lowering his 2.92 ERA, which is seventh in the South Atlantic League. ... Despite getting only six hits in his last 38 at-bats, Nate Espy still is in the top 10 in hitting and leads the league in homers and slugging percentage. ... The Weevils go on the road to Charleston (W.Va.) tonight. Brad Pautz (2-2, 2.76) is scheduled to start.
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