M-Braves Halt Biscuits, 14-12 (10)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Biscuits (23-26) came back from eight runs down, but it was not enough in what was a difficult 14-12 (10) loss to the first-place Mississippi Braves (31-20) on Thursday night at Riverwalk Stadium.

Cristofer Ogando opened for the second time as a Biscuit and served up a solo home run to left-center off the bat off lead-off hitter Wendell Rijo, who gave the M-Braves an early 1-0 lead. Ogando proceeded to retire the next three hitters in order, two of them via the strikeout.

After Mississippi starter Hayden Deal set the Biscuits down in order with a couple of strikeouts in the bottom of the first, the M-Braves hung seven runs on Ogando and Mikey York thanks to a solo homer by Braden Shewmake, an Ogando wild pitch, a two-run double by Rijo, and a three-run homer to right-center by Trey Harris to make it an 8-0 game.

The Biscuits would mount a rally in the bottom of the second amid some drizzle with Ruben Cardenas launching a solo homer to left, and Rene Pinto a two-run shot to straightaway center, making it an 8-3 game. Two innings later, Moises Gomez cracked his sixth home run of the season to left-center to make it 8-4.

Tommy Romero came on for Mikey York in the right-hander’s first appearance out of the bullpen this season, and the 23-year-old mowed down the M-Braves, striking out eight of his first nine batters. Jonathan Aranda’s sac fly in the fifth then made it a three-run contest at 8-5.

Romero continued to dominate, striking out a season-high 10 batters through his first four innings to match Shane Baz, who did the same against the M-Braves in late May. Gomez’s RBI-groundout pulled another one back for the Biscuits and made it 8-6 in the sixth. Romero became the first Biscuit to strike out 11 batters in a game this season when he fanned Justin Dean in a scoreless seventh, keeping it a two-run game.

The Biscuits would tie the game at eight in the ninth with an RBI-double by Aranda and a two-out RBI-single by Pinto. The game then shifted to extra innings where the M-Braves scored six runs in the top of the 10th. The Biscuits scored four of their own in the bottom of the 10th, but ran out of gas and dropped the four-hour-and-13-minute marathon on a Pinto flyout to center.

The Biscuits will try to bounce back on Friday when Adrian De Horta (0-0) goes against Odalvi Javier (4-1) at 6:35 PM CT when there will be a Sleeve Cooler Giveaway presented by 95.1 The Fox.

The rest of the series will include Patriotic Night with MAX Fireworks on Saturday, July 3; And an Independence Day Celebration with MAX Fireworks on Sunday, July 4.