SL1 Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Last Rally Tips Blue Wahoos

Published on July 5, 2019 under Southern League (SL1)
Pensacola Blue Wahoos News Release


The Blue Wahoos continued their rallying ways on the road Thursday night at Birmingham.

This time, however, the opponent went one better.

After reversing a 3-0, first inning deficit into a fourth inning lead, then tying the game in the ninth, the Blue Wahoos fell 8-5 in the 10th when the Birmingham Barons' Blake Rutherford blasted a 3-run walkoff homer.

A crowd of 8,500 at Regions Field watched a battle of the two division leaders in the Southern League in the first of a six-game series in Birmingham. The Barons, who struggled to a 27-42 record in the first half, have been a different team to start the second half.

A Chicago White Sox affiliate, the Barons have won eight of their last 10 games. The Blue Wahoos' loss Thursday ended a six game winning streak. This is the first meeting between the teams this season.

The Blue Wahoos outhit Birmingham 13-12 in the game, but were just 4-for-19 with runners in scoring position.

Just as they encountered in Wednesday's seven-run comeback, the Blue Wahoos stumbled at the start.

Luis Robert, the White Sox No. 3 prospect and the MVP of the Southern League All-Star Game last month, led off with a double against the Blue Wahoos' Griffin Jax.

With two out, Gavin Sheets doubled to score Robert. Ti'Quan Forbes then doubled to score Sheets. Luis Gonzalez followed with an RBI single. Suddenly it was 3-0 against Jax, who had not allowed three earned runs in a game since May 16.

But the Blue Wahoos then began to chip away.

Caleb Hamilton hit a 2-out triple in the second inning. Aaron Whitefiled then singled him home. In the third inning, Jordan Gore led off with a walk and Travis Blankenhorn doubled to score Gore.

In the fourth inning, Jimmy Kerrigan led off with a single, followed by Hamilton's single. Joe Cronin hit a one-out single to load the bases. Gore followed with a double down the left field line to score two runs.

The Blue Wahoos, however, missed a chance for an even bigger inning when starter John Parke retired Blankenhorn and Kirilloff to end the inning.

The Barons tied the game against Jax in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, RBI double from Sheets.

In the seventh, Blake Rutherford hit a sacrifice fly against reliever Anthony Vizcaya to score Robert and give the Barons a 5-4 lead.

It stayed that way until the Blue Wahoos manufactured a tying run in the ninth. Cronin led off with a single. Gore bunted him to second. Kirilloff delivered a two-out single to tie the game. Lewin Diaz was intentionally walked and new reliever Codi Heuer got Brian Schales to ground out and end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Zack Weiss retired the Barons in order to force extra innings.

With Schales beginning the inning on second, Kerrigan's bunt was unable to advance Schales to third. That was huge when Hamilton lined out to right. A wild pitch then send Schales to third, but Heuer got Whitefield to ground out.

In the bottom of the 10th, Nick Madrigal singled to move Luis Robert to third and Rutherford blasted the first pitch by Gore of the right field wall for a walk-off, three run homer.

Cronin and Hamilton each had three hits in the game for the Blue Wahoos. Kirilloff went 2-for-4 to push his average to .272. Five other players in the lineup had one hit. But the Blue Wahoos left 21 runners on base and that was decisive. The teams will continue the series Friday at 7:05 p.m.

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Southern League Stories from July 5, 2019


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