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Wahoos Lose Fourth Straight
August 28, 2017
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos lost a 2-1 lead with two outs and a 0-2 count in the ninth inning on Mississippi Braves shortstop Dylan Moore. Moore blasted a two-run double into the gap to right center to put his team on top, 3-2.
Mississippi went on to score four runs in the inning and win, 5-2, Sunday in front of 4,669 at Blue Wahoos Stadium. It was the Blue Wahoos fourth straight loss.
Manager Pat Kelly said the Blue Wahoos would probably have to win their last eight games to have the slightest chance of winning a Southern League record five straight halves.
“We have two outs and two strikes and a chance to win the game and we can’t finish,” Kelly said. “Those are disappointing losses.”
Blue Wahoos starting pitcher Keury Mella looked like he had broken the jinx and finally earned his first win this season at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Mella looked dominant, tossing six scoreless innings, allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out seven Mississippi hitters.
Mella pitched to the minimum 12 batters through the first four innings, allowing just one hit. He loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning but got Mississippi catcher Jonathan Morales to ground out into a double play to end the scoring threat. In the sixth, Mississippi again put runners at second and third with one out but Mella got a K and fly out to center field.
Coming into Sunday’s game, the 24-year-old Mella was 0-6 with a 5.16 ERA at home in 13 appearances. But over his last three starts, Mella has allowed just four earned runs in 18 innings for a 2.00 ERA and struck out 17. For the season, Mella is 3-10 with a 4.46 ERA.
Kelly said Mella has worked with Blue Wahoos pitching coach Danny Darwin on his delivery.
“He’s thrown good the last few games,” Kelly said. “He’s a lot more consistent. His slider is better and he’s throwing more strikes.”
But Mississippi went ahead, 3-2, on Moore’s two-run double off Pensacola closer Carlos Gonzalez. Braves third baseman Austin Riley then singled to right field to score Moore for a 4-2 lead. Riley scored on a Gonzalez wild pitch for the final margin of victory, 5-2.
Pensacola did take a 2-0 lead with both runs coming off Mike Soroka who is 11-8 with a 2.80 ERA for Mississippi.
Pensacola left fielder Gabriel Guerrero scored in the first inning of Sunday’s game on a single to center field by first baseman Gavin LaValley to take a 1-0 lead and to snap its streak of failing to score for 21 innings. The Blue Wahoos last scored against the Jackson Generals in the sixth inning Thursday.
It lost the first two games to the Mississippi Braves, 1-0, and, 5-0. The last time the Blue Wahoos were shutout in back-to-back games was in losses, 1-0, to both the Biloxi Shuckers and the Jackson Generals April 21 and 22 last season.
Pensacola scored its second run of the game in the sixth inning when shortstop Blake Trahan laid down a safety squeeze that scored center fielder Jonathan Reynoso from third to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 2-0.
Trahan was 3-for-3 with one RBI in Sunday’s game and led off the ninth for the Blue Wahoos with a double into the left field corner. In two games against Mississippi, the shortstop is 5-7.
“To me that was a great accomplishment on the safety squeeze by Trahan,” Kelly said. “He’s swinging the bat good.”
Mississippi finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth inning when second baseman Travis Demeritte singled off Pensacola reliever Robert Stock to drive in Moore to pull the Braves within, 2-1. Moore led the Braves offense going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Pensacola won the first half guaranteeing the team a spot in the Southern Division playoffs. It was a Southern League record fourth straight half title, tying them with the Tennessee Smokies, which did it between 2009 and 2011.
In the second half, the Blue Wahoos are sitting in fourth place at 28-34 with eight games left this season. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp lost to Biloxi 10-5 Sunday and are 35-27 in the Southern Division and in first place, seven games ahead of Pensacola.
Photos courtesy Barrett McClean Photography/Blue Wahoos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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