
The Mobile BayBears scored three runs in each of the first three innings, and then hung on for a 10-8 win over the Suns August 12, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
The Mobile BayBears scored three runs in each of the first three innings, and then hung on for a 10-8 win over the Suns August 12, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The BayBears scored six times in the final three innings, erasing a 4-0 deficit for a 6-4 win over the Suns at the Baseball Grounds August 11, 2012. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Mobile BayBears defeated the Suns 6-2 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The loss ended the Suns nine-game home winning streak. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Suns starter Matthew Neil(above left)pitched six shutout innings, and Ben Lasater (above right)drove in both runs with a pinch-hit single in the Suns 2-0 win over the Mobile BayBears. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
David Holmberg and two relievers combined on the Mobile BayBears (Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks)1-0 win over the Jacksonville Suns at Hank Aaron Stadium August 2, 2012. Photo Courtesy: Mobile BayBears
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The BayBears increased their lead in the South Division by scoring two times in the ninth inning for a 4-2 win over the Suns June 1, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Photo Courtesy: Mobile BayBears
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Suns right fielder Kyle Jensen smashed a three-run home run that hit the scoreboard at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville May 31, 2012 in 5-3 win over the Mobile BayBears. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
A towering three-run home run by Kyle Jensen helped the Jacksonville Suns to a 5-3 win over the Mobile BayBears on Thursday night at the Baseball Grounds. After losing both games of a double header on Tuesday, the Suns have now won two straight to even the series and more importantly gain ground on the BayBears in the South Division.
Mobile took the lead in the third against Suns starter Graham Taylor when Wladimir Sutil led off the inning with his seventh double of the season. After a sacrifice bunt by the pitcher Gaby Hernandez pushed Sutil to third, Alfredo Marte drove him in with a sacrifice fly to put Mobile on top 1-0. Marte is tied for third in the Southern League with 33 RBI.
The Suns drew even in the fifth, when Kyle Skipworth was hit by BayBears pitcher Gaby Hernandez to lead off the inning. Kyle Jensen then hit a ground ball to third baseman Matt Davidson, but instead of starting a double play, the ball rolled under his glove and into left field with Skipworth going all the way to third and Jensen to second. It was the third error committed by Davidson in the last two games. Jeff Dominguez stepped in and sent a sacrifice fly to center for his tenth RBI of the season, with Skipworth scoring to tie the game 1-1.
In the sixth, the Suns broke the game open scoring four runs on four hits against Hernandez. Chris Gutierrez led off with a walk, and was sacrificed to second by Paul Gran. Jake Smolinski scratched out an infield single to put runners on the corners with one out. Shawn Bowman delivered with his 25th RBI of the season, a line drive single to center field with Gutierrez scoring to put the Suns in front 2-1. Kyle Jensen cleared the bases with a manager’s best friend, the three-run home run. Jensen turned on a Hernandez pitch and smashed a mammoth blast that hit the scoreboard in left field to make the score 5-1. Jensen leads the Suns with seven home runs.
Brent Clevlen hit a solo home run off of Taylor in the seventh to cut the Suns lead to 5-2, and Alfredo Marte hit a solo home run off of Evan Reed in the eighth to edge the BayBears closer but that would be all for the Mobile offense. Reed struck out the side in the eighth. The home run by Marte is the first round tripper that Reed has given up this season. Mobile tied the Jackson Generals for the most home runs in the league with 40. The Generals are at the Baseball Grounds next week for a five game series.
Five different players had one hit for the Suns, with Jensen hitting Jacksonville’s second three-run home run in as many days against Mobile. For the BayBears, Matt Davidson finished 2-for-4 with a single and a double. Alfredo Marte hit his 11th home run of the season and drove in two of the BayBears three runs. Marte and Davidson are now tied for the league lead with 11 homers each.
The BayBears have been held to three runs or fewer in seven straight games and eight of their last 10, but have managed to win six times. The Suns have scored at least five runs in two straight games for the first time in 13 games.
After snapping their eight-game losing streak to the BayBears with a 9-0 victory on Wednesday, the Suns have won two straight over Mobile for just second time this season. Jacksonville is now 5-24 when allowing their opponent to score first, while the BayBears fell to 23-8 when taking the lead.
Suns starting pitcher Graham Taylor won for the first time in over a month (April 28th vs. Pensacola) and improved his record to 3-4 with two of the wins against Mobile. He allowed two runs on six hits over his seven innings of work, throwing 77 pitches, 55 for strikes. Against Mobile this season Taylor has allowed just three earned runs on 11 hits over 20.2 innings pitched. Taylor has allowed two earned runs or fewer in six of his 11 starts. Evan Reed fanned three batters in the eighth inning. A.J. Ramos was overpowering in the ninth, striking out the side for his second save of the season. BayBears starter Gaby Hernandez allowed five runs on five hits, and has now lost his first two starts with the BayBears after signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks two weeks ago.
The series is up for grabs on Friday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville with the first pitch scheduled for 7:05p.m. RHP Matthew Neil (0-0, 8.38) will start his third game for the Suns. LHP Tyler Skaggs (3-3, 2.72) is set to start his tenth game of the season for Mobile.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Alfredo Marte hit an opposite-field two-run home run in the seventh inning to give the BayBears a 2-0 win over the Suns. Marte leads the Southern League with eight home runs. Photo Courtesy: Mobile BayBears
By Steve Kolbe
The Mobile BayBears once again used a strong pitching performance to shutout the Jacksonville Suns 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon, and extend their lead in the South Division to four games.
The Suns have been outscored 21-2 in the series by the BayBears, and Jacksonville has been shutout twice in the last four games including 11-0 in the series opener. Mobile hurlers have limited Jacksonville batters to just 18 hits in the four games, with only three of the hits for extra bases with three doubles. The Suns are 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position during their losing streak. The BayBears have 33 total hits in the four games, and are 11-for-30 with runners in scoring position.
The afternoon featured a pitching rematch from and an April 23rd game where Graham Taylor and Chase Anderson combined to allow just five hits and no runs in a game the Suns won 7-0. Again, the starters stole the spotlight on Wednesday. Chase Anderson allowed just four hits in his six innings of work for the BayBears, and Graham Taylor allowed just one single until the seventh inning.
In the seventh, Marc Krauss led off the inning with a single and then Taylor made his only mistake of the day. Alfredo Marte swung at the first pitch he saw in the seventh and smashed a two-run home run into the right field stands to give Mobile a 2-0 lead. It was Marte’s eighth round tripper of the season. His eight home runs and 25 runs batted in are tied for the most in the Southern League.
The BayBears have won four straight games for the first time since their first four games of the season. The Suns have lost four in a row to tie their season high. The last time Jacksonville dropped four straight was also at the Baseball Grounds April 10-13 against Chattanooga.
The Suns have been shutout three times this season, all at home. The BayBears pitching staff has now tossed four shutouts on the year, two against Jacksonville and two against Mississippi. Jacksonville has lost six of the last seven games to fall to 17-17 on the season. The Suns have been outscored 41-18 in the seven games. The BayBears improved to 21-13 and now have the most wins in the league.
Chase Anderson improved his record to 2-0, with both of his wins coming on the road. Over 13 innings in his two starts against the Suns this season, Anderson has allowed just seven hits and no runs while striking out 17. Evan Marshall pitched the ninth to earn his second save of the series and sixth of the season. Graham Taylor pitched six and two-thirds innings and allowed just three hits but falls to 2-3 on the year. He struck out five and walked only one batter.
The Suns will look to salvage the final game of the series on Thursday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. RHP Omar Poveda (3-1, 6.08) will make his sixth start of the season with the first pitch scheduled for 7:35PM. Poveda allowed 10 hits and seven runs in his last start at Birmingham but earned the win when the Suns exploded for 11 runs. RHP Brett Lorin (0-2, 3.26) is set to make his third start of the season for the BayBears.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News