Wahoos Beat Jacksonville

August 30, 2016

Pensacola Blue Wahoos Barrett Astin threw in relief and as a starter in college with the Arkansas Razorbacks and in his four seasons in professional baseball.

The 24-year-old freely admits he prefers the bullpen but you wouldn’t know it from his 11 starts with Pensacola this season.

Astin started his third straight game for Pensacola and threw a season-high seven scoreless innings to lead the Blue Wahoos to its fourth consecutive win, 4-0, Monday over the Jacksonville Suns at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

The victory clinched the Blue Wahoos fourth straight series win and they are 13-5 heading down the stretch. It puts them just a half game behind the Mississippi Braves who are on a 3-10 slide, including a seven game losing streak, since the Atlanta Braves called up Mississippi shortstop Dansby Swanson on Aug. 17.

Pensacola, the first half Southern League South Division champion, is 34-29 in the second half and has its best overall record in franchise history at 75-58, while Mississippi is 34-28 and 68-63.

Astin said he feels comfortable in either role. Last year, he started all 14 games he pitched for Pensacola and 11 of the 16 games he played at High-A Daytona Tortugas to start the 2015 season. He was 8-9 overall with a 3.98 ERA.

“Really I’ve been starting and relieving my whole career,” said Astin, who reached the College World Series in 2012 as the Arkansas closer. “I prefer being a reliever. But right now this is what the (Cincinnati) Reds want.”

They may want more of right-handed starter Astin who ended up tossing seven innings, allowing five hits, no walks and striking out seven. He is the second Pensacola pitcher after Rookie Davis, who got called up to the Triple-A Louisville Bats, to win nine games (9-3) and Astin now has a 2.29 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he believes Astin has benefitted from returning to the Blue Wahoos this season. Astin was 1-4 in his last seven starts last year in Double-A for the first time with Pensacola and saw his ERA balloon from 3.48 to 5.63.

“He has shown confidence and been aggressive, coming right after the hitters,” Kelly said. “Repeating this league has been good for him.”

Astin agrees that a second year of seasoning has helped him develop as a pitcher. He throws a fastball, slider, curveball, changeup and cutter. Last night, he threw all of them over the plate throwing 59 of 84 pitches for strikes.

“I had five (Monday) tonight and threw them all for strikes, which helps a lot,” he said. “It gives me a lot of confidence getting ready for the playoffs. You want to go in clicking on all cylinders.”

Kelly said that Mississippi misses Swanson, who even though he was hitting .261, provided the leadership and defense the Braves needed.

“That’s a huge part of it,” said Kelly about Swanson’s promotion to Atlanta. “At this level one player, one batter can improve your lineup or really hurt it. He was only hitting in the .260s but he played solid steady defense for them.”

Jacksonville Suns pitcher Luis Castillo quickly showed his 99-mph fastball, striking out Pensacola second baseman and leadoff hitter Alex Blandino, in the first inning. Still, both Blandino and left fielder Phillip Ervin hit his main pitch out of the park just foul down the left field line.

Despite Castillo’s velocity in only his second start for Jacksonville, center fielder Brandon Dixon crushed a pitch into left-center over Suns left fielder Austin Dean’s head that drove in Ervin, who drew a walk, for a 1-0 Blue Wahoos lead.

Castillo was replaced after 3.2 innings giving up three runs on two hits and four walks, while striking out five. He earned the loss and now 0-1 with a 1.86 ERA. He had an impressive Double-A debut last week against the Chattanooga Lookouts, allowing one earned run in six innings.

Dixon led Pensacola at the plate, going 2-4, with his 22nd double of the season and driving in his 63rd RBI.  He now has hit in nine straight games and is batting .462 (18-39) with one homer and nine RBIs.

Meanwhile, Pensacola right fielder Sebastian Elizalde had his hit streak end at 13 games, going 0-4 and striking out twice. He fell one game short of his career-high 14 game hitting streak for High-A Daytona last year.

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