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Wahoos Get Shutout Win Over Mobile
April 7, 2019
After Blue Wahoos starting pitchers Jorge Alcala and Brusdar Graterol combined to allow just one run over 9.2 innings and strike out 12 batters during Friday evening’s doubleheader sweep in Mobile, Devin Smeltzer had a tough act to follow during his Saturday night start at Hank Aaron Stadium.
If the bar was set high, he raised it.
The 23-year-old lefty opened his season with one of the finest outings of his professional career, carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning and finishing the night with nine strikeouts over 5.2 two-hit innings.
Smeltzer was sharp from the beginning, striking out BayBears’ top prospect Brandon Marsh to open the game in a 1-2-3 first inning. The strikeouts kept coming in the second inning, as he struck out the final two batters of the inning before opening the third with two more strikeouts.
After another K in the fourth, he opened the fifth having not allowed a baserunner to reach. The leadoff hitter in the inning, Jhoan Urena, quickly ended the no-hit bid with a ground ball single through the right side, but Smeltzer was unfazed, striking out two more to strand Urena.
Opposing Smeltzer, BayBears starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval was also strong, striking out four in the first two innings. The Blue Wahoos manufactured a run against him in the third, with Jordan Gore reaching on a dropped third strike and then coming all the way around to score from first on a throwing error by Mobile third baseman Roberto Baldoquin.
The 1-0 score held until the fifth inning when the Blue Wahoos offense broke out. Jimmy Kerrigan led off the inning with a towering home run to left, his second in as many days to make it 2-0 in Pensacola’s favor. The Wahoos then strung together a walk and hits by Caleb Hamilton, Gore, Brian Schales, and Taylor Grzelakowski to score twice more.
With a 4-0 lead, Smeltzer cruised into the sixth inning. He allowed his second hit of the game with one out in the inning but struck out Jahmai Jones for the second out before turning the ball over to reliever Adam Bray.
Smeltzer finished with a line of 5.2 innings pitched, two hits, no runs, one walk, and nine strikeouts. With the strong effort by the lefty, Blue Wahoos starting pitchers now have a 0.59 ERA through three games, having allowed just one run in 15.1 innings while striking out 21.
Pensacola extended their lead to 5-0 on an RBI single by Jaylin Davis in the seventh inning while Bray combined with Ryan Mason to throw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to secure the victory and the second shutout of the year by the Wahoos.
With the win, the Blue Wahoos improve to 3-0 on the season. Pensacola and Mobile will continue their five-game series at Hank Aaron Stadium Sunday.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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