Suns Hold Off Blue Wahoos 5-4
With the win the Suns improve to 27-30 and take a 2-0 lead in the series, while the Blue Wahoos fell to 25-32 in the loss.
After Jacksonville entered the frame tied at 4-4, RF Jose Duarte led off with a walk, advanced to second on pinch hitter Kyle Jensen's base knock and moved to third on a groundout before coming home on 2B Paul Gran's sacrifice fly to take the lead. After an intentional walk placed Jensen at second, C Kyle Skipworth reached base on a strikeout, with a Pensacola defensive miscue bringing home Jensen to put the Suns ahead by two.
The Blue Wahoos would not go down without a fight however in their half of the ninth. With two outs, CF Ryan LaMarre and SS Didi Gregorius reached on back-to-back singles before 2B Brodie Greene sent in LaMarre to cut the deficit to one, but Jacksonville reliever A.J. Ramos was able to set down 1B Joel Guzman to shut down the comeback hopes.
Pensacola and Jacksonville were held scoreless until the fifth, when the Blue Wahoos struck first with two tallies. RF Andrew Means and C Chris Berset got it started with consecutive singles, while starting pitcher Tony Cingrani helped his own cause by reaching on an infield single to load the baes from LaMarre. The outfielder would drive home Means with a base knock to right before an RBI groundout from Gregorius made it 2-0.
The Suns got three runs in the seventh to take their first lead with three straight run-scoring singles from pinch hitter German Duran, SS Chris Gutierrez and Gran. The Blue Wahoos then drew the margin even at 3-3 in their half of the seventh courtesy of Gregorius' RBI single to score LaMarre.
Cingrani (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO) did not receive a decision in his Double-A debut despite yielding just two earned runs on five hits in 6.2 innings, while Jacksonville starter Jose Alvarez (5.1 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 SO) also did not factor in the final decision for the Suns. Ramos (2.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO) earned his third win of the year after allowing a run on four hits in the final two frames, while Pensacola closer Donnie Joseph (0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) suffered the loss.
Gran (2-4, 2 RBI), Skipworth (2-5) and CF Donnie Webb (2-3, 1 R, 1 BB) all tallied a pair of base knocks for the Suns in the victory, while LaMarre (3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI) led all batters with three hits. Gregorius (2-5, 2 RBI), Greene (2-5, 1 RBI) and 3B David Vidal (2-4, 1 2B) each collected multi-hit efforts as well in the loss.
Jackonsville and Pensacola are scheduled to meet again on Monday evening, with first pitch set for 7:00 pm. The Blue Wahoos are expected to send RHP Kyle Lotzkar to the bump, while the Suns are expected to counter with RHP Bryan Evans.
The new scoreboard to be placed on the press box faced at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium is expected to arrive tomorrow, and is slated to be installed on June 8 in time for the Fish's next homestand beginning on June 13