HWB: Nielsen Drives in a Run in Defeat

With teammate Ryan Patterson having the night off, Eric Nielsen occupied the sixth spot in the Honolulu lineup, and went 1-for-4 with an RBI in the Sharks 4-3 defeat. InsideTheDome has the recap from last night, and will be covering the league for the next month.

Nielsen saw his first plate appearance of the evening in the bottom of the first inning off starter David Asher. The Sharks already had a run in, and men on first and second when Nielsen came at bat. After taking the first pitch for a strike, Nielsen fouled off a fastball by Asher, and subsequently took two consecutive balls to even the count. On the 2-2 pitch, the outfielder hit a grounder to shortstop Ian Desmond, which allowed a run to score all the way from second.

Nielsen fouled out to right field in his second at bat of the game, and hit a soft liner in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the eighth he led off and inning, and hit high pop fly to Desmond, but this time the shortstop muffed the ball, enabling Nielsen to reach first base on the error. Nielsen was then lifted for pinch runner Nyjer Morgan.

In two games, Nielsen is 1-for-6 with a run batted in.