Jacksonville Takes Advantage of Rare Lapse by Blue Wahoos Pitching
August 1, 2019 - Southern League (SL1)
Pensacola Blue Wahoos News Release
The only time Blue Wahoos pitching gave up more than a run in the entire series against Jacksonville occurred in one inning Wednesday night.
That was enough, however, for the Jumbo Shrimp to hold on for a 4-3 win against the Blue Wahoos in the series finale at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Despite the loss, however, the Blue Wahoos (57-52 overall, 19-20 second half) took three of five games and won their first road series since mid-May.
They traveled back across I-10 Wednesday night and will begin a five-game homestand Thursday against the Birmingham Barons, the only time the Chicago White Sox affiliate visits Pensacola this season.
The Jumbo Shrimp (51-58, 22-17)o scored all four runs - three of those unearned -- in the third inning against Blue Wahoos starter Charlie Barnes, who had a rare rough patch among his season outings.
For perspective, that was double the runs yielded to Jacksonville than the previous four games combined. Two of the Blue Wahoos wins were shutouts.
Barnes settled back into a groove and finished with six innings pitched, five hits allowed, seven strikeouts and just one walk.
But the Blue Wahoos bats were held in check by three Jumbo Shrimp pitchers, led by starter Edward Cabrera (4-1), who worked into the seventh inning, allowing just one run. Relievers Alejandro Mateo and Dylan Lee combined to finish the game.
Jacksonville continued an impressive trend with its pitching staff during the win. The Jumbo Shrimp, the Miami Marlins' Double-A affiliate, have won 19 consecutive games when scoring four or more runs and are 39-6 on the season when it's happened.
The Blue Wahoos started with the lead Wednesday. Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach had back-to-back singles with one out in the first inning. Ryan Jeffers followed with an infield grounder and force play at second base that lead to a throwing error at first base, scoring Kirilloff.
Barnes, meanwhile, retired the first seven batters he faced. He had a 1-2 count on the eighth batter, Santiago Chavez, who worked his way into a third-inning walk.
That led to a big inning.
Anfernee Seymour doubled to put runners on second and third. Victor Mesa hit a hard shot ruled an error on shortstop Royce Lewis, leading to the tying run.
Former Blue Wahoos first baseman Lewin Diaz, traded Saturday to the Miami Marlins hit a sacrifice fly to score the go-ahead run. Riley Mahan followed with an RBI double. Joe Dunand singled home the fourth run with two out.
Barnes got out of the inning with a ground out and allowed just one hit the next two innings.
The Blue Wahoos were unable to generate any run-production until Jeffers hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to trim the deficit to one run. But the next six batters were retired in order to end the game.
Jeffers went 2-for-4 to raise his Blue Wahoos average to .375. Kirilloff went 2-for-3 as both players combined with four of the team's seven hits. Lewis, Larnach and Kerrigan each had one hit.
The Blue Wahoos took the season series 13-7 against Jacksonville, including an 8-2 mark at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
The Biloxi Shuckers have the lead in the first "Seafood Buffet Series" against their I-10 rivals by virtue of winning records against both Jacksonville (10-5) and Pensacola (11-9).
The Shuckers and Jumbo Shrimp play their final series, along with the final one between the trio, beginning Thursday night in Biloxi, Miss. to determine the overall winner. The prize is that the other two teams must supply a dinner feast of their namesake to the winner.
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