Jacksonville holds off Gwinnett, wins fourth straight

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Robinson Piña tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball on Friday and the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp stymied a late Gwinnett Stripers rally in a 4-3 victory from Coolray Field.

Thanks to James McCann’s first-inning home run, Gwinnett (21-34) led 1-0 when Jacob Berry singled to lead off the third inning. After a pair of outs, Andrew Pintar tied the game with an RBI triple before Joe Mack lashed an RBI single to give Jacksonville (34-21) the lead.

Stripers starter Ian Anderson (1-2) yielded a leadoff double to Troy Johnston in the fourth. After a ground out, Johnston stole third. Maximo Acosta drew a walk and then swiped second. An error brought in Johnston and then Xavier Edwards drew another walk before Jakob Marsee’s RBI groundout plated Acosta to make it 4-1.

The score remained 4-1 until the bottom of the ninth. Carlos Rodriguez walked and then scored on a McCann double. After a pair of outs, an error brought in McCann to pull Gwinnett within one at 4-3. However, Anderson Pilar got Eddy Alvarez to pop out to end the game and pick up his second save.

Jacksonville and Gwinnett meet again in Saturday’s 6:05 p.m. contest. RHP Freddy Tarnok (2-1, 5.34 ERA) starts for the Jumbo Shrimp against Stripers RHP Davis Daniel (2-3, 3.68 ERA). Coverage begins at 5:50 p.m. on ESPN 690AM and www.ESPN690.com.

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The team calls VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.