Spartanburgers Fall to Grasshoppers on Second Walk-off of the Week

GREENSBORO, N.C. — For most of Saturday night, the Spartanburgers held a lead over the Grasshoppers. What once was a 5-0 advantage disappeared in the final three innings, and Greensboro (76-49, 35-24) walked off Hub City (57-68, 23-36) on a bases loaded walk to win 6-5. With the loss, the Spartanburgers are officially eliminated from playoff contention in 2026.

Draven Zeigler and Enrique Segura both started off with a scoreless first. Maxton Martin and Antonis Macias led off the second with two straight singles. Martin was then thrown out on the bases. Quincy Scott singled and Carter Garate doubled to put the ‘Burgers up 1-0. After a second out in the inning, Evan Morrison doubled home two more runs.

Segura worked around a hit and a walk in the bottom of the second, and the Hub City offense went back to work. Two walks kicked off the inning. With one away, Jhonny Severino committed a throwing error at third to allow one run to score. Scott singled home another run, advancing the lead to 5-0.

Severino made up for his mistake with a leadoff homer in the third. From there, the offenses went quiet. Segura retired six of the next seven batters to complete his night. Zeigler also finished the fourth and exited.

Yulian Quintana tossed the fifth and recorded two outs in the sixth for Greensboro. Isaias Uribe got the last out in the sixth and worked around a fielding error in the seventh to keep Hub City off the board.

Aidan Brainard entered in the fifth for the Spartanburgers and immediately got help from his defense. Edward Florentino led off with a double to center field but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Two singles followed in the inning but did not cause damage. Brainard tallied two outs in the sixth before Luimy Munoz came in to finish off the side. Munoz gave up a single run in the seventh on an Edward Florentino solo shot.

Treyson Peters maintained the 5-2 game with a scoreless top of the eighth. Munoz went back out for the bottom half. With two on and two out, Florentino ripped a two-run single to signal the end of the night for Munoz and cut the lead to one. Case Matter struck out Severino to get the game to the ninth.

Greiber Mendez (W, 2-1) pitched a one-two-three frame. Tony Blanco Jr. led off the bottom half with a single off Matter. Wyatt Sanford came in to run and promptly stole second base. Axiel Plaz doubled to tie the game. A single put runners at the corners, and the Spartanburgers settled for an intentional walk to load the bases. Matter followed with a strikeout and fielder’s choice force out at home plate to extend the game. With two outs, Matter (L, 2-1) walked Shalin Polanco, and Greensboro celebrated a 6-5 win.

The Spartanburgers try to salvage a series split on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET. Hub City has not named a starter. They will go up against Greensboro rehabber Garrett McMillan (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

About the Hub City Spartanburgers

The Hub City Spartanburgers are the High-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers and the reigning South Atlantic League South Division Champions. For more information on the Spartanburgers, visit milb.com/hub-city. For information about tickets to any of Hub City’s 66 home games, call 864-594-0701 or email: tickets@hcspartanburgers.com. For media inquiries, email: iunsworth@hcspartanburgers.com. Follow along with the Spartanburgers on social media.

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