Blue Wahoos Lose Twice, But Magic Number Shrinks To Three

June 17, 2023

The weather changed from dangerous to welcoming. The ballpark was full again. And those Hawaiian shirts remain in demand.

These were wins in what became a double loss on the field Friday for the Blue Wahoos against the Mississippi Braves.

After the M-Braves first rallied for a 6-5 win in 10 innings in the resumption of Thursday’s suspended game, they kept hot bats rolling in clubbing 18 hits, including a pair of grand slams, plus a 3-run blast in their 15-3 win in Friday’s scheduled game.

Both outcomes dulled the mood among a capacity crowd (5,038) at Blue Wahoos Stadium on Giveaway Friday. The supply of ultra-popular Hawaiian shirts from sponsor Kona Brewing Company were distributed in less than 10 minutes. The first group of fans formed a line an hour and a half before the gates opened.

But despite twin defeats, the Blue Wahoos (37-24) actually gained closer to the finish of the first half division race. The Montgomery Biscuits swept a doubleheader against the Biloxi Shuckers, thus trimming the magic number to 3 in the Blue Wahoos’ quest to repeat as Southern League First Half South Division winners.

They maintain a six-game lead over Biloxi with eight games left in the schedule. The Biscuits (7 games back) and M-Braves (7.5) are close to elimination.

Veteran major-league pitcher Johnny Cueto made his second injury rehab start Friday on a path to return to the Miami Marlins. It did not go well.

Cueto gave up a trio of first-inning singles after one out. The next batter, M-Braves first baseman Cade Bunnell, blasted a Cueto pitch over the right-field berm for a grand slam.

Cueto finished the night working into the fourth inning, as planned, but allowed seven hits and five fly ball outs. He struck out one batter and threw 62 pitches.

Blue Wahoos fans provided an ovation as Cueto exited in the fourth inning and he acknowledged the crowd by tipping his hand and signaling his appreciation.

The Blue Wahoos pulled within 4-3 in the sixth inning on Griffin Conine’s two-run homer, his 11th HR this season.

From that point, however, the bullpen was rocked.

The M-Braves exploded for five runs in the seventh and eighth innings against relievers Jonathan Bermudez and Brady Puckett. They combined to yield 10 hits.

The suspended game resumed in the top of the seventh Friday tied at 3-3 and without fans when it began at 5 p.m. – an half hour before gates opened.

The game had been stopped at 8:22 p.m. Thursday night when the first band of severe storms struck and stayed through the night.

Blue Wahoos reliever Josan Méndez got the final out of the seventh and retired the M-Braves in the eighth. Conine hit a solo home run to provide a 4-3 lead in the seventh.

But in the ninth, the M-Braves’ Hudson Potts led off with a game-tying home run against Cristian Charle. It forced the extra inning and the M-Braves got a two-out, two-run homer from Luke Waddell.

The Blue Wahoos got an RBI sacrifice fly from Nasim Nuñez and had two runners on, but the M-Braves’ Alec Barger struck out Cody Morissette to end the game.

The Blue Wahoos will try to regain a series lead on Saturday in the fifth game of the series.

Luis Palacios (4-1, 4.55) will be on the mound against the M-Braves’ Domingo Robles (4-4, 3.68).

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