Wahoos Fall 6-5 On Walk-Off Homer

July 3, 2013

Jake Marisnick belted a walk-off, two-run homer giving the Jacksonville Suns a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Tuesday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. It was the Suns’ second walk-off win over the Wahoos this series, and the win also secured the series victory for Jacksonville.

Pensacola was in control of the contest, leading 5-2 heading to the last of the eighth. Brian Pearl entered out of the Wahoos pen and promptly gave up a double to J.T. Realmuto and an RBI single to Zack Cox, slicing the deficit to two. Drew Hayes then came on and allowed Danny Pertusati to reach on a fielder’s choice. Pertusati moved from first to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on Ryan Fisher’s groundout.

In the ninth, Noah Perio led off with a single and after a failed bunt attempt from Michael Main, Marisnick crushed a no-doubt shot deep to left field for his 10th homer of the season. It’s the ninth time this season that the Wahoos have lost in walk-off fashion.

Hayes (2-2) blew his fifth save in five chances for Pensacola as he ended up allowing two runs on two hits in 1.1 innings. Collin Cargill (2-1) was credited with the win by firing two shutout frames to hold the Wahoos at bay in the eighth and ninth.

The four-run comeback marred a great start form Pensacola starter Daniel Renken. The right-hander’s lone mistake on the night was a two-run homer from Fisher in the last of the second to give Jacksonville a brief 2-1 lead. The right-hander induced a momentum-swinging 4-6-3 double play to thwart a rally in the last of the third and settled down from there. He allowed just four baserunners in his final 3.2 innings but had to settle for the no-decision despite allowing only two runs on five hits in 6.2 frames.

The Wahoos got off to a great start in the contest as Devin Lohman led off the game with a homer, his sixth round-tripper of the year, against Jacksonville starter Anthony DeSclafani. The Suns’ starter would retire the next 10 he faced though until running into massive trouble in the fourth.

Donald Lutz started the fourth-inning rally with a walk, before a Marquez Smith single put runners on the corners with one out. Danny Vicioso tied the game with an RBI single and then Travis Mattair followed with a go-ahead two-run triple to dead-center field. Theo Bowe would provide some insurance on a swinging bunt that DeSclafani couldn’t handle, allowing Mattair to score from third and giving the Wahoos a 5-2 lead.

Having already dropped the series, the Wahoos look to build some momentum in the series finale at 6:05 p.m. CT. Pensacola sends Josh Smith (6-6, 3.50) to the bump against Jacksonville’s Jay Jackson (2-5, 3.33).

story by Kevin Burke

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