Biscuits Beat The Wahoos, Snapping Three Game Streak

June 13, 2016

The Montgomery Biscuits snapped the Pensacola Blue Wahoos three-game winning streak on Sunday with a 5-2 victory.

The Biscuits relied on strong pitching from starter Hunter Wood, who limited Pensacola to two hits through five innings in his third start in Double-A, in front of the 15th sellout crowd of 5,038 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

Pensacola snapped Wood’s scoreless inning streak at 14.1 innings when Pensacola DH Donald Lutz hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to score Sebastian Elizalde from third in the fourth inning. In his first two starts at the Double-A level, Wood had thrown 11 scoreless innings and won both games.

The Blue Wahoos finally chased Wood, the Rays’ No. 30 prospect, from the game in the sixth inning when Pensacola’s left fielder Tony Renda doubled to the left field corner and then scored when Kyle Parker smacked a double to left to pull the Blue Wahoos within, 4-2.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he was impressed with Wood, now 3-0, and his mix of pitches.

“He was terrific,” Kelly said. “He has a nice mix of pitches and throws two different kinds of changeups. We had our chance in the sixth.”

However, Ryne Stanek, a former Biscuits starter and the Rays No. 17 prospect, came in and got the next two hitters out with runners on second and third. Pensacola second baseman Brandon Dixon did hit a 398-foot fly out to dead center that measures 400-feet from home plate.

Over the final 3.2 innings, Stanek, whose fast ball reaches the upper 90-mph range, allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out four to shut down the Pensacola offense.

Pensacola will remain in first place, despite the loss, in the Southern League South Division with a record of 36-26. The Biloxi Shuckers were one game behind and could tie the Blue Wahoos with a win over the Birmingham Barons.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly played down the hunt for the first half title that gives the winner an automatic pass to the Southern League playoffs.

“You have two good teams and playing five games is tough,” Kelly said. “You’re not going to win all five games.”

Pensacola first baseman Kyle Parker, who was released from the Colorado Rockies after spring training and missed most of April before the Cincinnati Reds picked him up, got his fourth multi-hit game in his last five contests. He went 2-4 with a double and drove in one of Pensacola’s two runs Sunday.

Parker isn’t focused on the first half crown either. He said the best thing to do is relax

“We’re all competitors and we want to win,” he said. “Obviously, it’s nice to be winning. We’re playing our best every single day. Things like that will take care of themselves.”

Pensacola starter Sal Romano cruised through the first two innings, striking out four including Montgomery second baseman Tommy Coyle on a 3-2 count with runners on first and second to end the second inning.

But Romano has had tough luck this season, compiling a 1-6 record losing his last four starts in a row. He has given up 34 hits in 22.2 innings pitched during that span, posting a 5.96 ERA.

In the third inning, Montgomery finally got to Romano scoring three runs on three hits and two walks. Biscuits left fielder Pat Blair earned a leadoff walk and scored from third to give Montgomery the lead, 1-0, when right fielder Cade Gotta hit a slow roller to Pensacola first baseman Kyle Parker, who tagged him out.

The Biscuits made it, 2-0, when shortstop Willy Adames, Tampa Bay Rays’ No. 3 prospect, tripled over the Pensacola outfielders’ heads into the right center gap to drive in third baseman Kean Wong, who had singled to left field, to go ahead, 2-0.

The final run of the third inning came when DH Patrick Leonard singled on a ground ball to left field to score Adames, putting Montgomery up, 3-0.

Montgomery added another run to go up, 4-1, when first baseman Jake Bauer hit a hard liner to center in the fifth inning to score Adames from third base, which he reached when Pensacola third baseman Eric Jagielo fielded a routine ground ball and threw it past first base.

Romano finished the game throwing five innings, giving up eight hits and three walks and allowing four runs, three earned, while striking out five. He lost his fifth consecutive start and is 1-7 with a 4.93 ERA on the season.

Kelly said Romano seemed to lose faith in his 95-mph fastball when he struck out a couple batters on his breaking ball.

“I thought he lost trust in his fastball,” Kelly said. “He hurt himself with a couple of walks and the triple (by Adames) hurt him.”

Montgomery stretched its lead back to three runs in the eighth when Bauer earned a leadoff walk and reached third on a routine single to left field by Leonard. Bauer increased the Biscuits’ lead to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by catcher Jake DePew.

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