Blue Wahoos Walk-Off Montgomery For The Third Time This Week

June 21, 2021

The Blue Wahoos have become the drama kings.

All in a great way.

They finished a memorable week in franchise history with a third walk-off win in six days Sunday, this one from Canadian-born catcher J.D. Osborne, who delivered a line-drive rope down the left field line to produce a 10th-inning, 4-3 victory against the Montgomery Biscuits.

In a week that included rain delays, schedule changes, a swipe from Tropical Storm Claudette, the Blue Wahoos won five of six games against the Biscuits and made Father’s Day Weekend special at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

In winning Sunday before a crowd of 4,123, the Blue Wahoos (26-16) won three games in less than 24 hours. Sunday’s game was delayed a half-hour by weather.

“I’ve never seen that honestly,” said Osborne, referring to the weekend weather, including Saturday’s storm and Sunday’s pair of rain showers. “I have lived in Florida for seven years now and I have never seen a torrential downpour like that, and they we go back out there and there’s blue skies.

“It’s hard to stay in it right away when all that’s happening, but then you find that focal point that brings you back to the game.

“We did that all weekend,” Osborne said. “We just grinded. We had really good at-bats there, threw the ball well and good series, there. It just the chemistry and group of guys here.”

So here was Sunday’s scenario.

After winning a pair of seven-inning games, including a walk-off win, in a double-header Saturday that followed arrival of a tropical storm, the Blue Wahoos had just one hit through six innings. They trailed 3-1 in the seventh.

The lone hit was Riley Mahan’s second-inning homer. They again struggled against Montgomery left-hander Faustino Carrera, who kept the Blue Wahoos off-balance with his cutter and control, despite lower-than-normal velocity.

But with Carrera out and the Biscuits bullpen in, things changed in the seventh inning. They were in striking range thanks to another strong performance from their bullpen. Zach Wolf had pitched two scoreless innings following Jeff Lindgren’s five inning start.

“It’s almost like a movie, you can’t really write this stuff,” Mahan said. “But I think it speaks volumes to not only our starting pitching, but also our bullpen, just keeping us in games and not letting them get too far out of hand.

“Even in games when we’re not swinging it too great, we’re kind of battling and it pays off later in the game.”

Peyton Burdick, who blasted a two-run, game-winning walkoff in Saturday’s first game of the doubleheader, led off with a 482-foot poke to left-center trimming the deficit. In the ninth, Burdick led off again and took a pitch on his shouder.

He went to third on Jerar Encarnacion’s double. With one out and the bases loaded, Mahan produced a fly ball to left deep enough to score Burdick with the tying run.

In the top of the 10th, with a runner placed on second to start the inning in pro baseball’s extra-inning format, Blue Wahoos reliever Roberto Guerrero worked his second clean inning. He stranded the Biscuits runner at third with one out with a strikeout against top-of-the-order hitter Garrett Whitley, the got Xavier Edwards to pop out to shortstop Devin Hairston.

Osborne, who was a talented teenage hockey player in Canada, waisted no time when getting his shot.

He jumped on a 1-2 pitch and rifled it down the line for the game winner.

“I was just trying to find any way to contribute to the team,” said Osborne, who joined the Blue Wahoos in a promotion June 6 from the Beloit (Wisc.) Snappers, the Miami Marlins High-A affiliate. “I saw a fastball there. I knew they didn’t have anything crazy to beat me, so just stay within myself and put the bat on the ball and it worked out in my favor. And the rest is history, we walked it off.

The win gave the Blue Wahoos a phenomenal 12-4 record in one-run games and was their seventh come-from-behind-win in late innings.

They now have the best record in the Double-A South with a big road series beginning Tuesday against the Birmingham Barons, who took four of six games in Pensacola in the only series the Blue Wahoos lost this year.

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