Jackson Wins Finale 5-3 Over The Blue Wahoos

April 27, 2016

Coming off Tommy John surgery, Cincinnati Reds starter Homer Bailey consistently threw his fastball in the 93-95 mph range in his second rehab start in the minor leagues against the Jackson Generals.

Jackson, though, ended Pensacola’s three game winning streak by taking the final game of the series, 5-3, in front of 3,317 at Admiral Fetterman Field at Blue Wahoos Stadium. The Blue Wahoos won the third of four series to start this year. Pensacola won the series, 3-2, with its win Monday night.

Bailey’s first pitch was 94 mph. But he did give up a first inning run when Jackson center fielder Guillermo Heredia, who was hit in the back of his shoulder on a 93 mph fastball, scored on left-handed hitting Leon Landry’s single to left field where the shortstop normally plays but the Blue Wahoos had shifted right, expecting Landry to pull the ball.

It would be Jackson’s only earned run in the first three innings.

The normally error-proof Pensacola defense, the best in the Southern League, made five errors in the second and third innings to make four of Jackson’s five runs unearned. The defensive meltdown happened behind Bailey’s second rehab pitching assignment and led to three unearned runs in the third and one unearned run in the second inning, putting Jackson on top, 5-2.

Bailey didn’t blame the Blue Wahoos defense, though, whose previous high was two errors this season in a game against Jackson. They had nine errors total coming into the final game of the series.

“I would say this one was a bit uglier,” said Bailey. “I wouldn’t say it was a smooth four innings. We had some obstacles we had to overcome.”

Bailey gave up six hits, five runs, one earned, walked two and struck out three in his four innings of work. Bailey, who hasn’t pitched a Major League game in almost a year, threw 78 pitches total.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly shrugged off his young defense’s uncharacteristic showing.

“Those things happen,” Kelly said. “We really put (Bailey) in a bad spot having to throw so many additional pitches.”

Bailey, who has a career 58-51 record in nine major league seasons with two no-hitters, said he looks forward to returning to the Cincinnati starting rotation and picking up where he left off before two seasons of injuries. He got two starts last season and then was out in September 2014 after a torn flexor tendon.

“It’s been a long road that we could talk about for an hour,” Bailey said about his recovery. “I’m just trying to build up my endurance and trying to stay sharp. I’m looking forward to getting back to Great American Ballpark and being with guys I’ve played with the last five or six years. We’re holding our own and doing a lot better than people thought we would this season.”

Bailey was the second Reds pitcher to get a start in the series against Jackson. On Sunday, Anthony DeSclafini started his first rehab game, as he recovers from an oblique strain suffered in Spring Training. Bailey threw in Louisville April 21 and expects to throw one more game in the minors before returning to the Reds rotation.

Kelly said Bailey and DeSclafini may pay off for his strong pitching that leads the Southern League with a 2.24 ERA. But he would have liked to stick with his rotation.

“It probably pays off at the end of the season with all that time off,” he said. “I have five major league pitchers playing for me already, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take my five and go to the big leagues tomorrow. You can’t beat what they’ve done.”

This series it was the Blue Wahoos hitting that carried the day. It hit .189 in its 5-game losing streak and averaged 1.4 runs per game, including losing back-to-back 1-0 games to the Biloxi Shuckers and Jackson Generals.

But the Blue Wahoos hit 32-102 or .314 during its three-game winning streak over Jackson, and scored 8.3 runs per game. For the series, it hit .287 against Jackson pitching.

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