Bleday Drills Walk-Off Double In 13th Inning Marathon Victory

August 19, 2021

JJ Bleday lined an RBI double off the right-field wall in the bottom of the 13th off J.T. Hintzen (L, 4-2), which gave the Wahoos a 4-3 win on Wednesday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

After both teams scored in the 10th inning, both Biloxi and Pensacola squandered an abundance of chances before Bleday’s game-winning one-out double. In the 11th, the Blue Wahoos had runners and first and second with nobody out. However, Hintzen—who was in his first inning of work—struck out the following three batters in a row to end the inning.

After Alberto Guerrero pitched a scoreless 12th inning, the Blue Wahoos again failed to take advantage of the runner beginning on second. Pensacola had a failed bunt attempt before a line out and a ground ended their chances in the inning. Meanwhile, Biloxi quite literally ran themselves out of the inning in the top of the 13th. After a leadoff single from David Hamilton set up the Shuckers with runners on first and third and nobody out, the Shuckers ran into a bizarre double play.

With Hamilton running on the pitch, Mitch Longo hit a shallow fly to left field that was not deep enough to score Korry Howell from third base. Apparently, Hamilton on his was to second touched the bag, but failed to re-touch second base on his way to first. After an appeal, Hamilton was ruled out, which left only Howell at third with two outs. Guillen got a groundout to third on the next pitch, which set up the Wahoos for the walk-off in thr 13th.

None of the would have been possible had it not been for Brian Navarreto. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blue Wahoos were trailing 2-1 with Zack Brown on the mound for Biloxi. After a leadoff walk to Jerar Encarnacion, Pensacola had the winning run in Navarreto at the plate. Unfortunately, Encarnacion was thrown out trying to steal second just a few pitched prior to Navarreto belting a home run to left, which only tied the game at 2-2. Prior to the ninth, the Wahoos had only scored in the first after Bleday doubled, Peyton Burdick singled, and Griffin Conine hit into a double play, which brought home Bleday.

Max Meyer made his 17th start of the year for the Blue Wahoos and allowed two runs in six innings. Meyer walked only one batter and struck out four, and only required 58 pitches to get through six innings. His ERA in now down to 1.97, which is the lowest in all of professional baseball.

The bullpen was sensation again for Pensacola. Andrew McInvale continued to shine in his newly rediscovered form. The right-hander worked 1.1 innings and struck out four. Jefry Yan also pitched 1.2 innings of shutout ball for Pensacola. Guerrero turned in a season-long three innings without allowing a hit and allowed only one unearned run in the top of the 10th inning while striking out five. Alexander Guillen (W, 1-1) pitched the thirteenth, earning his first win as a Blue Wahoo.

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