Three-Run Blast Lifts Wahoos Over Biloxi

April 13, 2015

Kyle Waldrop erased three games of Pensacola Blue Wahoos hitting misery with one giant stroke.

The first baseman lofted a high-arching, three-run home run that gave the Wahoos its first lead, 3-0, of the five game series against the Milwaukee Brewers’ new Double-A franchise, the Biloxi Shuckers. The runs in the bottom of the first inning matched what Pensacola had scored in its previous three games.

It was one of only two hits by Pensacola, which snapped its three game losing streak to Biloxi with a rain-shortened 4-0 victory, although the grounds crew worked to keep the field dry throughout the drizzly day.

Waldrop, the Cincinnati Reds No. 14 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, showed an impressive bat in Spring Training with the Reds. In 12 games, the left-hander hit .273 with one homer and five RBIs.

So far this season, he has continued to swing the bat well. He’s hitting .273 with the homer and three runs-batted in. Last year, he came up to Pensacola with a handful of High-A Bakersfield Blaze mid-season and hit .315 with eight homers and 35 RBIs.

Waldrop said in Sunday’s six-inning game, he was just trying to move the runners on first and second up a base.

“It started off pretty fair and then kept slicing down the line,” he said. “I’m glad it stayed fair. It was a good feeling. Hopefully, now our bats will wake up a little bit.”

Manager Pat Kelly said Waldrop’s homer was a key to the game, even taking pressure off of starter Wandy Peralta, who was making his Double-A debut.

“Kyle was one of the few guys who came up from Bakersfield and didn’t miss a beat,” Kelly said. “It was really clutch. It allowed Peralta to relax a little bit.”

In his debut, Peralta threw five scoreless innings, giving up three hits, two walks and striking out three. Last year, Peralta was 7-12 with a 4.82 ERA for High-A Bakersfield.

He knew coming in that Biloxi was leading the Southern League in hitting with a .326 average and 18 runs, including one home run in three games against Pensacola.

“I knew they were having a real good series against us,” Peralta said through translator and starting catcher Yovan Gonzalez. “I just trusted every single pitch I threw. I wanted to just kill it.”

The Biloxi Shuckers, who open the year on a 55-game road trip while they await construction of their stadium, sent a fourth straight top-rated prospect to face the Blue Wahoos lineup Sunday. This time it was right-hander Jorge Lopez, Milwaukee Brewers’ No. 15 prospect according to Baseball America.

But Waldrop jumped on him in the bottom of the first inning and Pensacola capitalized on six walks by Lopez to get its first victory of the season.

The final game of the five-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Monday. RHP Marcus Walden takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Jacob Barnes.

Comments

Comments are closed.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports