Edwin Espinal smashed three home runs and had eight RBIs to lead the Charleston Dirty Birds to an 11-1 romp over the York Revolution in seven innings in the first game of an Atlantic League doubleheader Thursday night at Appalachian Power Park.
Espinal, one of the Dirty Birds’ top hitters during the 2021 season who also played for the West Virginia Power in 2014, now has six home runs and 22 RBIs since rejoining the club on July 22. He’s hitting .317.
Espinal hit a two-run blast to give Charleston a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, added another two-run homer in the Dirty Birds’ four-run third inning, doubled home a run in the fourth inning and capped his 4-for-4 performance with a three-run shot in the bottom of the fifth.
Diego Goris added three hits to the Dirty Birds’ 14-hit attack and Nick Heath went 2 for 3 and scored four times — driven home each time by Espinal’s extra-base hits.
Charleston starter Derrick Adams (5-6) was the beneficiary of the offensive explosion, picking up the win after pitching a seven-inning complete game and allowing one run on four hits. He struck out seven and walked one.
The Dirty Birds hit the road after Thursday night’s second game, heading to Long Island for a three-game series weekend against the Ducks before returning to Charleston for a nine-game home stand with three games against High Point (Aug. 16-18), three more against Lancaster (Aug. 19-21) and three against Gastonia (Aug. 23-25).
