Wahoos Win 2-1; Rain Suspends Second Game

June 30, 2017

Pensacola Blue Wahoos right-hander Deck McGuire struck out a season-high 10 in six innings of work Thursday in a game resumed after rain suspended Wednesday’s game after the first five outs of the game.

Behind McGuire, who hasn’t allowed a run in his last 14 innings, Pensacola won the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader with Montgomery, 2-1, at Blue Wahoos Stadium. McGuire, threw his third shutout in his past four appearances.

Over all four games — three of those starts — the 2010 first round pick, has allowed just two earned runs in 25 innings pitched.

Montgomery led Pensacola 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when rain-delayed the second game 77 minutes Thursday before it was suspended. The Blue Wahoos had one out with runners on first and second. The seven-inning game will resume at 5 p.m. Friday and will be followed by a second nine inning game.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly liked what he saw from McGuire, who improved to 7-5 on the year with a 2.98 ERA.

“That was outstanding,” Kelly said. “He had 10 punch outs in six innings. His breaking ball was very effective.”

In the first game, Pensacola scored two runs in the second inning off of Montgomery right-handed pitcher Benton Moss to go ahead, 2-0.

Blue Wahoos left fielder Josh VanMeter scored the first run of the game when Montgomery catcher Nick Ciuffo made a bad throw with the bases loaded trying to pick VanMeter off. Pensacola catcher Joe Hudson then hit a bouncer to third that brought right fielder Aristides Aquino home for the second score.

Montgomery’s only run came in the eighth inning when Pensacola reliever Carlos Gonzalez threw a two-out wild pitch that allowed Biscuits DH Justin O’Conner to score from third base.

In the second seven-inning game Thursday, Pensacola righty Alex Powers made the start, even though, he had never pitched more than 3.1 innings. He was making his first start in 145 appearances in his five-year professional career and first start in 174 pro and college appearances at Southern New Hampshire University.

He didn’t do so bad filling in while Pensacola seeks a fifth starter to complete its rotation. The 25-year-old Powers got four of the first six outs on Ks. Powers ended up throwing a career-high four innings and held Montgomery scoreless. Plus, he struck out a career-high six, while giving up two hits and a walk.

“He’s thrown well all year in all kinds of roles,” Kelly said. “I was hoping to get three innings out of him and he gave us four.”

That’s a far cry from his last outing Monday, Powers gave up four earned runs on six hits in three innings of relief against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

However, Powers was relieved by Geoff Broussard who blew Pensacola’s 2-0 lead. He gave up four runs, three earned, allowing Montgomery to take a 4-2 lead.

Broussard gave up one run in the fifth inning and gave up three more runs to the Biscuits in the sixth, failing to get an out against the first four batters he faced before being chased from the game.

The Blue Wahoos, which feature four new players from High-A Daytona Tortugas in the Southern League second half, have struggled at the plate. The first half champions have scored more than two runs just once in its first seven games after the All-Star break.

Plus, the team has had one game postponed on the road against the Chattanooga Lookouts and now two home games suspended in a row because of rain against the Montgomery Biscuits.

Rain, rain go away, said Kelly. “Baseball is a game of routine. It’s tough to get into any kind of rhythm,” he said.

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