Wahoos Beat Birmingham

July 18, 2015

Juan Duran singled in Ray Chang to help the Pensacola Blue Wahoos snap its two game losing streak and defeat the Birmingham Barons, 6-5, Friday at Regions Field.

In the sixth inning, Pensacola sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs to take the lead, 6-5, and snap its two-game losing streak to the Barons.

The Blue Wahoos sixth inning rally began when Pensacola loaded the bases with none out when catcher Yovan Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly that scored third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean to cut Birmingham’s lead to, 5-2.

Chang, a second baseman leading Pensacola with a .323 average, then hit a single to drive in Sean Buckley to pull the Blue Wahoos within, 5-3, of the Barons.

Pensacola left fielder Jesse Winker then hit a sacrifice fly to score shortstop Juan Perez and the Blue Wahoos pulled to within, 5-4. Pensacola first baseman Marquez Smith then singled with two out to tie the game, 5-5, when center fielder Beau Amaral crossed the plate.

The Blue Wahoos finally took its second lead of the game, 6-5, when Duran, a Pensacola right fielder, singled to left field to score Chang. Duran was 1-4 with two RBIs and is hitting .260. Smith was thrown out at home plate trying to score, too, which ended the inning.

Pensacola went ahead 1-0 to start the game in the first inning when Duran hit a sacrifice fly that scored Winker.

However, Birmingham would score the next five runs with two in the second and third and one in the fifth. Barons second baseman Joey DeMichele hit his fourth triple of the season to score two runs in the second inning. In the third, third baseman Nick Delmonico doubled in shortstop Tim Anderson, while Delmonico scored on a double play to put the Barons ahead, 4-1.

Birmingham left fielder Christian Marrero hit his 11th home run of the season to right center to put the Barons up, 5-1.

Then, Pensacola reliever Miguel Celestino finished off the Barons by striking out Anderson after allowing two consecutive singles and preserved the Pensacola victory for his third save of the year.

Mejias-Brean has hit in 12 of his last 14 games, including four multi-hit games. He’s batting 15-51 or .294 and scored nine times, hit a homer and driven in four runs since July 2.

Pensacola is now 12-9 in the second half of the Southern League season and is tied for first place in the South Division with the Mississippi Braves. The last time the Blue Wahoos were in first place this late in the season was July 22, 2012.

The Barons dropped to 16-4 in the second half and lead the North Division by five games over the Montgomery Biscuits.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports