Six-Run Fourth Lifts Blue Wahoos To 10-3 Win Over Shuckers

July 8, 2023

When the big inning ended, its production complete, Troy Johnston and his Blue Wahoos teammate Norel González exchanged a celebratory fist bump near first base.

It was only the fourth inning, but a statement was made.

On a Friday night when the team wore its Pensacola Pok-Ta-Pok uniforms for the third recognition of a season initiative in Minor League Baseball, this one was filled with line-drive ropes and a couple home run pokes in the Blue Wahoos’ 10-3 victory against the Biloxi Shuckers.

Both Johnston and Gonzalez homered in the game. Those blasts were separate from a six-run, fourth inning that changed a 3-2 deficit into a five-run lead.

From that point, Blue Wahoos starter Luis Palacios and three relievers – Eli Villalobos, Cristian Charle, and West Tunnell – spun scoreless innings the rest of the way. Palacios worked on a cliff’s edge, but got out of bases-loaded jam in the third inning after allowing two runs, then overcame two baserunners in the fourth inning. He finished five innings to earn the win.

Eight from Pensacola’s batting lineup scored runs. Five players had multiple hits. Johnston went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI and walked twice. Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with a booming homer over the right-center berm.

José Devers had a pair of hits, a pair of RBI and several notable defensive plays at shortstop. He was playing that spot Friday with Nasim Nuñez and pitcher Patrick Monteverde in Seattle for Saturday’s SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game.

First baseman Bennett Hostetler, catcher Will Banfield and center fielder Dalvy Rosario each collected two hits.

The fourth inning decided the game. Banfield led off with a single. With one out, the next seven Pensacola hitters reached base. Cobie Fletcher-Vance had one of the biggest hits with a 2-run double, and scored on Devers’ two-run single.

It was the Blue Wahoos’ first win in the Pensacola Pok-ta-Pok uniforms, which is part of Minor League Baseball’s Copa de la Diversion initiative to honor Latin American heritage in the game. Pok-ta-Pok was the first Mesoamerican ball game, played thousands of years ago.

The Blue Wahoos will now try to gain a series edge in Saturday’s fifth game of the homestand against the Shuckers.

by Bill Vilona, photo Nino Mendez / Pensacola Blue Wahoos

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