Wahoos Top Smokies 6-4

June 26, 2016

Pensacola Blue Wahoos starting pitcher Rookie Davis used both his bat and his right arm to overcome the Tennessee Smokies, 6-4, Saturday at Smokies Park.

He gave the Blue Wahoos the lead, 4-3, in the top of the fourth when he hit a sacrifice to left field that scored Pensacola third baseman Tyler Sparks from third.

Davis also knocked a solo homer to left field In the third inning that had put his team up, 2-1. The last Pensacola pitcher to hit a home run was Ben Lively on Aug. 19, 2014.

Davis has two hits in 13 at bats this season for Pensacola, and now has three RBIs total.

In the fifth inning, Davis worked out of a jam with runners on second and third and two out by getting Tennessee second baseman Ian Happ out for the first and only time in the game. Davis ended up working 5.1 innings, giving up five hits, three walks and striking out one. He now has a team best 6-1 record with a 2.64 ERA.

Besides Davis, both Pensacola second baseman Alex Blandino and right fielder Sebastian Elizalde also homered. Pensacola went ahead, 5-3, in the top of the seventh when Blandino yanked a solo homer to left field, his fifth of the season.

Elizalde then blasted a solo homer – his third of the year – to right field to start the eighth inning, putting Pensacola ahead, 6-3.

The Blue Wahoos are now second in the Southern League with 48 home runs behind the Montgomery Biscuits with 50.

Happ, who scored three of Tennessee’s four runs, was 3-4 with his first Double-A home run. He hit a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning that drove in Smokies third baseman Chesney Young, who had walked.

Happ also crossed the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning on a ground out by Tennessee right fielder Billy McKinney that pulled the Smokies within, 6-4, of Pensacola.

Pensacola’s bullpen came through again. Carlos Gonzalez, Kevin Shackelford and Alejandro Chacin combined to allow one run on one hit and strike out three in 3.2 innings of relief. Chacin nailed down his 13 save this season, which leads the Southern League.

Pensacola tied the score, 1-1, in its next at bat in the top of the second inning when third baseman Taylor Sparks singled in Elizalde, who also singled.

Pensacola first baseman Eric Jagielo knocked a double with one out to left field in the top of the fourth that scored Elizalde that knotted the game, 3-3. Then, Davis drove in his second run of the game on a sacrifice fly that put Pensacola ahead for good, 4-3.

Pensacola, which won the first half title, improved to 2-1 in the Southern League South Division in the second half and is tied for first with the Jacksonville Suns. Overall its record stands at 43-30.

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