MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Biscuits (37-23) used three solo home runs and a terrific outing from four relievers on bullpen day to slip past the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (23-38), 3-2, in the series opener on Friday night at the Baseball Grounds.After both teams were held scoreless in the first, Kevin
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Biscuits (37-23) used three solo home runs and a terrific outing from four relievers on bullpen day to slip past the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (23-38), 3-2, in the series opener on Friday night at the Baseball Grounds.
After both teams were held scoreless in the first, Kevin Padlo stepped up and launched a gargantuan home run over the left field wall off Jacksonville starter Jordan Yamamoto in the second to make it 1-0 Biscuits. The home run extended Padlo's on-base streak to a Southern League-leading 22 games.
In the bottom of the second, Stone Garrett clubbed an opposite-field two-run homer to right off Biscuits opener Matt Krook that put the Jumbo Shrimp ahead, 2-1. Padlo was back at it in the top of the fourth, however, swatting another solo homer to left off Yamamoto that tied the game at two. Friday night was Padlo's second multi-home run game of 2019, with the other coming back on May 13 at home against Mississippi. Padlo and Josh Lowe both have a pair of two-home run games this season.
Brian Shaffer then entered for Krook in the third, and after allowing a single and a walk, proceeded to retire the next 14 batters he faced from the third to the seventh. Ivan Pelaez (2-1) then worked a 1-2-3 eighth, but the Biscuits offense continued to scuffle against Jacksonville pitchers Yamamoto, Jordan Kinley, and Dylan Lee, who combined to strike out 15 Montgomery batters, tying a season-high for the Butter and Blue.
With one out in the ninth, the Biscuits would get their breakthrough from their number nine hitter Jermaine Palacios who walloped a Lee pitch to left, and hooked it just inside the foul pole for the second baseman's first home run of the season, and first Double-A longball in almost 14 months (April 15, 2018). The solo blast untied the game and moved the game to the bottom of the ninth where Phoenix Sanders got Garrett to fly out to deep center field with a man on first for the righty's sixth save of the season.
The Biscuits have now won five straight and will try to match a season-high with their sixth-consecutive victory on Saturday night when Riley O'Brien (2-3) clashes with Jorge Guzman (1-6) at 5:35 PM CT.
The Biscuits will return to Riverwalk Stadium for their final series of the first half in a crucial showdown against the third-place Chattanooga Lookouts on Military Wednesday, June 12. The rest of the series will feature Game Show Night and a T-Shirt Giveaway on Thursday, June 13; Capital City Night on Friday, June 14; Montgomery Rebels Throwback Night featuring a Jersey Auction on Saturday, June 15 (a doubleheader); and A Father's Day Tie Giveaway on Sunday, June 16.
