Hader, Hall and Magnifco combine for three-hit shutout of BayBears
MOBILE, AL - The final piece of the trade that sent Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Houston Astros made his appearance on Tuesday night at Hank Aaron Stadium. Josh Hader dominated the Mobile BayBears in his first appearance as a Biloxi Shucker, guiding his new team to a 3-0, shutout over the Mobile BayBears.
The shutout was the league-leading 12th for Biloxi and third in the last six games. Hader, Brooks Hall and Damien Magnifico combined for the three-hitter.
Hader (1-0) followed in the footsteps of Monday night's starter, Adrian Houser, by striking out the first batter he faced as a member of the Shuckers. Over five innings of work, the lefty gave up just one hit, walked one and struck out a season-high, nine, one shy of his career-high (10 on April 4, 2014) in his Milwaukee Brewers' organizational debut.
The 21-year-old from Maryland allowed multiple base runners in the first, but had just one BayBear reach base on a wdropped third strike in the fourth.
Shuckers' starters have allowed four runs in the first three games of the series on 11 hits, two walks and 18 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched.
Biloxi (18-19) opened the scoring for the sixth consecutive game by jumping out to a fast start in the first inning.
Brett Phillips (1x3, 2 R, BB) rocketed a triple into centerfield to start the game and came home to score on Orlando Arcia's (2x4, RBI, 2B) double to give the Shuckers a quick, 1-0, lead.
Nathan Orf (1x4, 2 RBI) padded on the Biloxi lead with a bases-loaded, two-out, two-run single in the fifth, plating Nick Shaw (1x3, R, BB) and Phillips before Arcia was thrown out at third. Orf has now brought in runs in his last three games, tallying five over that span. Arcia extended his hitting streak to seven games and is 12-for-25 over the streak, logging now 35 multi-hit games this season.
Brooks Hall came out of the bullpen in the sixth and picked up where Hader left off, setting down the side in order in all three inning. In just his second relief appearance of the season, striking out two. Damien Magnifico (SV, 14) worked the ninth for his 16th save attempt. After getting a groundout to start the inning by Sean Jamieson, Jack Reinheimer and Socrates Brito pieced together back-to-back singles to break up a string of 14 consecutive BayBears set down in order by Biloxi pitching. A strikeout to Garret Weber and a groundout by Gabriel Guerrero ended the game and secured the shutout.
The Shuckers dropped the first two games of their previous two series and won the next three. Biloxi now trails in the series 2-1 and trail in the overall season series with the BayBears, 9-11.
The Shuckers will look to even up the series on Wednesday night and force a rubber match. RHP Tyler Wagner (8-5, 2.38) will take a two-game winning streak in which he's allowed just two runs in 14 innings into the game three contest for Biloxi, while Mobile (23-14) will counter with RHP Blayne Weller (1-3, 5.61). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., with coverage beginning at 6:50 p.m. on 1240-AM WGCM, 1580-AM WPMO and the Biloxi Shuckers Radio Network. Fans can also listen to the game using the TuneIn Radio app or by going to www.biloxishuckers.com.
The Shuckers' season-long 10-game homestand against the Mississippi Braves, August 7-11 and Pensacola Blue Wahoos, August 12-16 begins on Friday. The homestand features Marty Wilson Night on Friday, Post-Game fireworks on Saturday and an appearance by dancing bat boy, Breakin' BBoy McCoy, Bark In The Park, presented by Mars PetCare and Pedigree, as well as a Youth Baseball Giveaway (first 1,000 kids 12 years old and younger), courtesy of the Mississippi Forestry Division on Saturday, August 15.
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