Delgado continues to struggle as Myrtle Beach Pelicans fall to Kinston Indians

MYRTLE BEACH -- If Randall Delgado feels like it's been six weeks since his last win, it's because, well ... it has.

The Myrtle Beach right-hander wasn't necessarily shelled in a 6-4 loss to Kinston at BB&T Coastal Field on Thursday, but he gave up just enough to extend his winless streak to eight consecutive appearances. Delgado gave up a two-run home run to Kinston's Lucas Montero in the third. He then rebounded to strike out the side in the fourth before he ran into the trouble that ended his night an inning later.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder started the fifth with a harmless foul out, but he then allowed the next four batters to reach base. Abner Abreu's RBI single tied the game at 3, and manager Rocket Wheeler then pulled Delgado in favor of Yeliar Castro.

Castro's wild pitch two batters later notched another run on Delgado's ledger.

It helped Kinston go on to the victory and Delgado to his third loss - to go along with five no-decisions - in his last eight starts.

He struck out six, but it did little to prevent his ERA from jumping as close to 3.00 as it has all season. After starting the game at a Carolina League second-best 2.76, the four earned runs he gave up Thursday pushed him to 2.99 on the season.

The Kinston offense also offset what had been a nice display of Myrtle Beach taking advantage of freebies in the first.

After a pair of singles to start the inning, leadoff hitter Mychal Jones scored on a wild pitch. Samuel Sime followed with what appeared to be a harmless flyout to center. Instead, Indians center fielder Lucas Montero misplayed the ball off his face.

Mike Jones and Travis Jones were running on the two-out contact, and both scored easily.

That made the score 3-0, but it didn't stick.

Moves

The Birds' string of transactions continued Thursday when left-handed pitcher Tommy Palica was received from Double-A Mississippi and catcher Osman Marval was recalled from Class-A Rome.

Palica is a familiar face in Myrtle Beach, as he was 5-1 with a 3.31 ERA in 41 appearances last season before being promoted. He found himself back with the Pelicans after his ERA balloon to 7.31 in 25 games with Mississippi this year.

The addition of Marval gives the Pelicans three catchers on the roster.