Caratini, Soler deliver for Myrtle Beach Pelicans in Game 1 of championship series

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans are getting a high rate of return on their loan from the Chicago Cubs.

Jorge Soler, the Cubs’ rookie starting right fielder, delivered more dividends Sunday night at Frawley Stadium in the opening game of the Carolina League’s best-of-five Mills Cup Championship Series.

Soler, on a rehab assignment for an oblique injury, had a hand in two of the Pelicans’ three runs, knocking in a run with a double in the sixth inning and scoring moments later to help Myrtle Beach take the first game with a 3-2 win in 10 innings.

While Soler helped the Pelicans get to extra innings, catcher Victor Caratini provided the game-winning hit, a one-out, two-strike run-scoring lined single to right field with the bases loaded in the 10th.

“I felt good in that at-bat and was seeing the ball well,” Caratini said. “I was focused on hitting the ball hard for a base hit or sacrifice [fly].”

In his Pelicans debut Friday, Soler helped Myrtle Beach reach the championship series with a double, walk and run scored in a 4-3 win over Winston-Salem in the deciding game of the Southern Division Championship Series.

The Cubs said Sunday they intend to leave Soler with the Pelicans for the remainder of the series, which is scheduled to run as late as Friday, and Pelicans manager Mark Johnson confirmed that was the situation, barring an injury that would make the Cuban-born Soler needed by the big-league club.

The Blue Rocks are left to deal with the 23-year-old power hitter, who seems entrenched at the No. 3 spot in Myrtle Beach’s lineup.

“It’s tough, especially in the playoffs,” said Wilmington manager and former major league catcher Brian Buchanan. “We battle all year long to get to where we are, then in the playoffs you have to face Soler, who is obviously an established hitter. … We can sit here and complain about it all we want but he’s not going away.

“The Cubs are in a race and want him back and that’s part of what the minor leagues are about, if a guy needs to get ready to help the big league team they’re going to do it. It’s unfortunate it happens to be in the championship series, but that’s the way the ball bounces.”

It bounced the Pelicans’ way in the 10th. They loaded the bases with one out on a lead-off double by Daniel Lockhart, walk by Chesny Young, sacrifice bunt by Pin-Chieh Chen and intentional walk to Soler. Caratini then delivered the go-ahead RBI on his third hit of the night. “He had a great night at the plate and great night behind the plate,” Johnson said.

A mental error in the bottom of the ninth nearly cost the Pelicans the victory, as shortstop Gleyber Torres failed to cover second base on a potential game-ending double play ground ball to Lockhart at second base.

Reliever David Berg entered the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs after Jasvir Rakkar, who is second in the Carolina League with 16 saves, gave up a single, walk and bunt single.

Berg got what he needed with a grounder to third baseman Jason Vosler for a force at home, then a two-hopper to Lockhart that could have ended the game. But the 18-year-old Torres, ranked as the top prospect in the Cubs’ organization, failed to cover second base. Lockhart ran to the bag for the force-out after looking to throw and hesitating, and tried unsuccessfully to convert the double play, allowing the tying run to score.

“A tweener-hit ball you’re probably going to try to go home there because it’s the tying run,” Johnson said. “It was a little miscommunication. It was kind of a tough hop, a tweener hop, and he wasn’t there at short to cover.”

Berg got out of the inning with a fly ball to right field, then retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th on a groundout and pair of closing strikeouts.

“Those are fun situations. I enjoy them. I thrive in them,” said Berg, who holds the NCAA record for pitching appearances while at UCLA. “I’m just happy we were able to keep the game alive and give the offense a chance to make some plays.”

Myrtle Beach trailed 1-0 on a second-inning home run by Ryan O’Hearn before taking the lead in the sixth.

Young, the Carolina League’s regular-season leader in batting average, singled up the middle to lead off the inning. He was called out on runner’s interference when a sharp grounder by Chen hit Young in the foot on a hit-and-run.

Chen then scored on Soler’s RBI double to the left-center field wall, Soler advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a ground ball by Mark Zagunis that snuck just under the glove of diving third baseman Mauricio Ramos.

Jen-Ho Tseng of Taiwan, one of the Cubs’ top pitching prospects, gave the Pelicans six solid innings and exited in line for the win. He allowed three hits, a walk and a hit batter while striking out four.

Lefty Michael Heesch allowed two of the three batters he faced in the seventh to reach on a single and walk before being lifted in favor of Coastal Carolina alumnus Josh Conway.

Conway allowed the inherited runners to move into scoring position with a wild pitch, but got an out on a sharp one-hopper to Lockhart at second with the infield in and struck out Dominique Taylor to strand the runners.

After allowing a lead-off walk in the eighth followed by a sacrifice bunt, Conway stranded Logan Moon on second with a strikeout and flyout. He allowed just a walk with two strikeouts in his 1 2/3 innings of relief, segueing to Rakkar.

“Bergie came in and picked up the pieces and did his thing,” Johnson said, “and Conway did a great job, too.”

The Blue Rocks nearly pushed their early advantage to two runs in the fourth inning after Jack Lopez singled to left field, stole second and advanced to third with no outs on a poor throw from Caratini.

But Lopez was gunned down at the plate with one out by first baseman Jacob Rogers on a one-hop chopper. With a runner on second, Tseng struck out Elier Hernandez to end the inning.

“We had chances throughout the game,” Buchanan said. “We had some runners at third with less than two outs and we just couldn’t get the big hit, and bases loaded and no outs in the ninth. We push a run across but that was a good opportunity where a base hit would probably win the game. But they made some pitches and threw the ball well.”

The Pelicans will try to take a 2-0 series lead Monday night behind starter Tyler Skulina (3-6, 3.11 ERA), and the Blue Rocks are scheduled to start Jakob Junis (5-11, 3.64 ERA).

The Pelicans will again be banking on Soler, who struck out three times Sunday in addition to his double and walk. “That’s part of the business. He’s got to get ready to get better and play in the big leagues in Chicago, so we’ll do whatever we can do to accommodate that,” Johnson said. “It is the playoffs and is the finals, but you also have to look at the big picture, and the big picture is to get him ready and get some at-bats to go to Chicago.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Caratini, Soler deliver for Myrtle Beach Pelicans in Game 1 of championship series."