PEARL, Mis. - The Biscuits (9-6) rode their hitting, pitching, defense, and even some luck to an impressive 5-0 victory in their series opener against the Mississippi Braves (7-7) on Saturday night at Trustmark Park.Ricardo Pinto (1-1) made his first road start for the club, and despite walking five and
PEARL, Mis. - The Biscuits (9-6) rode their hitting, pitching, defense, and even some luck to an impressive 5-0 victory in their series opener against the Mississippi Braves (7-7) on Saturday night at Trustmark Park.
Ricardo Pinto (1-1) made his first road start for the club, and despite walking five and wiggling out of numerous jams, the righty pitched just well enough to secure his first Biscuit victory.
The 25-year-old would get some help from Mississippi's defense and starting pitcher Patrick Weigel in the first inning, after Lucius Fox reached on an error by first baseman Andy Wilkins, and then took second on a Weigel throwing error. After Weigel balked and put Fox at the third, he would uncork a wild pitch, which brought home the Biscuits' shortstop for the game's first run.
Pinto would throw five scoreless innings behind some outstanding defensive plays from Dalton Kelly, Fox, and Tristan Gray, as well as three double plays that each kept the M-Braves off the board.
After working a scoreless sixth, Ivan Pelaez would load the bases in the seventh, and with one out induced a screamer of a comebacker clocked at 108 miles per hour off the bat of Drew Waters that was fortunately lined right into the lefty's glove. The southpaw then got Southern League RBI leader Cristian Pache to bounce into an inning-ending fielder's choice to end the threat and preserve the shutout.
The Biscuits would add four more runs in the eighth thanks to an RBI-single by Fox, after Kevin Padlo began the eighth with a lead-off wall-ball double, a Jesús Sánchez RBI-fielder's choice, a wild pitch, and a Brett Sullivan sac fly, before Curtis Taylor closed out the bottom of the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning.
The Biscuits will try to reach double digits in the win column on Easter Sunday when Sam McWilliams (1-0) makes his first start of the season against Joey Wentz (0-0) at 1:05 PM CT.
The Biscuits would bring 11 batters to the plate in the fourth and scored six times, the most runs they have scored in an inning so far this season. Tyler Zombro opened and Kenny Rosenberg, Dalton Moats, and Phoenix Sanders finished it off, ensuring the Biscuits stayed atop the first half North Division standings going into a five-game series against the Mississippi Braves, which begins on Saturday at 6:05 PM CT with Ricardo Pinto (0-1) squaring off against Patrick Weigel (0-0).
The Biscuits will return to Riverwalk Stadium for a 10-game home stand against the Birmingham Barons (first five games) and Mobile BayBears (last five games) beginning on Thursday, April 25 when it will be Field of Dreams Night with a T-Shirt Giveaway.
