Wahoos Beat Suns

August 31, 2016

His teammates call him, “Mr. Clutch,” and Tuesday Pensacola Blue Wahoos minor league veteran Ray Chang lived up to the nickname.

Locked in a pitcher’s duel between Pensacola right-handed starter Sal Romano and Jacksonville Suns left-hander starter Matt Tomshaw, Chang hit a line drive single with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning to drive in Blue Wahoos right fielder Sebastian Elizalde and center fielder Brandon Dixon to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Mr. Clutch is now 4-5 with a double and seven RBIs with the bases loaded for Pensacola this season.

Pensacola won its fifth in a row, beating Jacksonville, 5-2, Tuesday in front of 3,192 at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Pensacola is just 1,937 fans short of reaching 300,000 fans in each of its first five seasons with one more home game to play Wednesday.

No one was happier to have the 12-year-minor league veteran Chang back in the lineup than Pensacola manager Pat Kelly.

“How about that? He comes back and gets that big clutch hit,” Kelly said. “And then gets a double after that. He didn’t miss a beat. He comes with experience. He knows all the pressure is on the pitcher and not the hitter.”

Chang was playing in his second game Tuesday with the Blue Wahoos after getting transferred from Triple-A Louisville, where he had just gone 3-3. He was a defensive substitution Monday. Chang went 2-4 with a run scored and two RBIs and is hitting .274 for Pensacola.

“It was weird,” the 33-year-old Chang said. “I wasn’t 100 percent locked in the first two at bats. That situation automatically locks you in. I was just trying to get a pitch to hit.”

Romano was grateful for Chang coming through. Romano improved to 6-11 with a 3.42 ERA this season. In the second half of the season, the Cincinnati Reds No. 16 prospect has been dominant, going 5-4 with a 2.39 ERA.

He had a perfect game through 4.2 innings with four strikeouts when Jacksonville shortstop Peter Mooney hit a line drive to left field for the first Suns hit.

Romano has a career high 140 strike outs and now is tied for the Pensacola single-season franchise record. Three more strikeouts and, Romano, who boasts a 95 mph fastball, will reach 500 career strikeouts in five minor league seasons. Romano, who is second in the Southern League in strikeouts, previously had a high of 128 strikeouts in 2014 for the Low-A Dayton Dragons.

His final line in Tuesday’s game read: eight innings pitched, two hits, no runs, no walks and six strikeouts on 94 total pitches.

“I pitched off my fastball, which made all my other pitches look better,” Romano said. “I trust all my pitches. It’s been a fun half.”

Kelly liked that Romano wanted to go out and finish the game in the ninth inning after only giving up the singles to Mooney and second baseman Garrett Weber.

“That was fun to see,” Kelly said of Romano’s two hitter. “Boy, how far he has come since the start of the year. He wanted to go out for the ninth. We’ve raised all these five or six-inning pitchers who look to come out of the game. Here’s a guy who wants to end the game. That’s nice to see.”

After Chang’s single, Pensacola added two more runs to put the Blue Wahoos up, 4-0, when Blue Wahoos catcher Joe Hudson followed with a double into the left field corner. Both third baseman Taylor Sparks and Chang scored.

The Blue Wahoos, who have won four straight series, are 14-5 with six games left before the playoffs. Pensacola, which won the first half South Division title, are battling Mississippi Braves for the second half crown, too. The Blue Wahoos are a half game behind Mississippi, which is 35-28 and 69-63 overall. Pensacola is 35-29 in the second half and has its best overall record in franchise history at 76-58.

Romano is looking forward to the playoff run.

“This is a special team and a special run for us,” he said. “We go out there and try to win every single ball game and play hard. We’re going to be a hard team to beat. I’m really excited for it.”

Kelly added: “The next five days will be very interesting,” Kelly said.

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