
Jacksonville Suns catcher Kyle Skipworth hit for the cycle including a grand slam against the Chattanooga Lookouts May 26, 2012 at AT&T Field. Photo Courtesy: MiLB.com
By Steve Kolbe
Jacksonville Suns catcher Kyle Skipworth hit for the cycle including a grand slam against the Chattanooga Lookouts May 26, 2012 at AT&T Field. Photo Courtesy: MiLB.com
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Lookouts right fielder Blake Smith hit a solo home run in the third inning off of Suns starter Graham Taylor. Smith leads Chattanooga with seven home runs and 28 runs batted in. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
The Jacksonville Suns struck out a season-high 17 times and ended up on the wrong side of a 14-inning affair on Friday night, with the Lookouts winning 5-4 at AT&T Field in Chattanooga. The Suns lost in extra innings for the first time this season and are now 2-1 when working overtime, with all three of the games on the road. The Lookouts have gone into extra innings five times in their last 11 games. Chattanooga is now 3-3 in extra-inning games this season.
The Suns scored the first run of the game in the second inning against Lookouts starter Chris Withrow, when Shawn Bowman walked to lead off the inning and later scored on a single by Russell Mitchell to give Jacksonville a 1-0 advantage. Mitchell has driven in nine runs this season.
The Lookouts used the long ball to take the lead in the bottom half of the second against Suns starter Graham Taylor. After Brahiam Maldonado led off the home half of the inning with a single, Pedro Baez smashed his second home run of the season over the left field fence, a two-run blast that put the Lookouts in front 2-1.
In the third inning, the Lookouts flexed their muscle again when Blake Smith hit a solo home run to right field off of Taylor to increase the lead to 3-1. Taylor has given up a team-high seven home runs this season.
Jacksonville cut into the lead in the fourth when Shawn Bowman led off inning by reaching base again, this time with a single. Playing in his second straight game, catcher Jake Jefferies drove in Bowman with his second double of the year, and the Suns trailed 3-2.
In the fifth, the Suns reclaimed the lead when Paul Gran walked, and Jake Smolinski reached on an error by shortstop Jake Lemmerman. With two on and one out, Bowman continued his strong night at the plate when he doubled into the gap in right-center field, with Gran scoring from second and Smolinski hustling around from first to give the Suns a 4-3 edge. That would be the last run of the night. After scoring four runs on four hits in the first five innings, the Suns had just three hits in the games final nine innings.
In the home half of the seventh, Rafael Ynoa led off the inning with his first triple of the season. He wasn’t on base for long, with Nick Buss driving him in with a single on a two strike pitch to tie the game 4-4. Ynoa would later leave the game after he was injured on a head first slide into first base.
In the fourteenth inning, lead off hitter Nick Buss was hit by a Josh Schmidt pitch and Luis Nunez singled to left. After a ground out by J.T. Wise, the Suns walked Blake Smith intentionally to load the bases and take their chances with the pitcher, Blake Johnson. With Chattanooga out of position players, Johnson was forced to grab a bat and take a trip to the plate. With the Suns infield in, Johnson helped his own cause with his first hit of the season, sending a grounder back up the middle for the game-winning RBI to give the Lookouts a 5-4 victory. In the series Lookouts pitchers have five hits against the Suns, with at least one hit in every game.
This season, 20 of Jacksonville’s first 48 games have been decided by a single run, with the Suns 10-10 in those games. The Suns won eight of their first 12 one-run games this year, but have won just two of the last eight games decided by the smallest of margins.
Suns starter Graham Taylor took the mound at 7:20 p.m. for his tenth start of the season. He allowed four runs on 10 hits over six innings and was long gone when the game ended four hours and nine minutes later. Relievers Kyle Kaminska, A.J. Ramos, and Bobby Bramhall combined to pitch seven scoreless innings. Josh Schmidt allowed two hits and the game-winning run the 14th inning to fall to 1-3 on the season.
Chris Withrow started the game for the Lookouts, and allowed four runs on four hits over five innings. Before the night was over, Lookouts manager Carlos Subero had made six calls to the bullpen. In the end, Blake Johnson pitched two hitless innings to earn the win and improve to 2-3. Both teams combined to use a dozen pitchers. For the Lookouts, only Luis Vasquez and Allen Webster were left in the bullpen at the end of the night. Zach Neal, Wade Korpi, and Evan Reed were the only Suns hurlers not to have their names called.
Jacksonville hitters struck out a season-high 17 times on Friday. In five of the last eight games, Suns batters have struck out at least 11 times. Shawn Bowman went 3-for-4, drove in two of the Suns four runs and scored twice. Jake Jefferies, Russell Mitchell, Danny Black, and Paul Gran each had one hit.
The Lookouts tied a season-high with 16 hits with 11 players with at least one hit on the night. Pedro Baez, Luis Nunez, Blake Smith, Jake Lemmerman, and Chris Withrow each finished with two hits apiece.
Chattanooga has taken the first three games of the series, and won a season-high six straight games. For the second time in the series the Suns scored the first run but ended up on the losing end. Jacksonville is now 17-4 this season when scoring the first run of the game. The Suns have been outscored 19-9 during their four game losing streak, and overall the Suns have just five wins in 21 games and have fallen into fifth place in the South Division. The Lookouts increased their season-high winning streak to six games.
Game four of the series is Saturday night with the first pitch slated for 7:15 p.m. from AT&T field in Chattanooga, Tennessee. RHP Matthew Neil (0-0, 3.60) will make his second start of the season for the Suns. Neil made his double-A debut May 20 against Pensacola, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings and did not figure in the decision. The Lookouts will send RHP Nathon Eovaldi (2-2, 3.18) to the mound for his ninth start of the season.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Kyle Jensen and company celebrate after defeating Pensacola to give the Suns their 13th win in April. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
The Jacksonville Suns scored three runs in the first inning Saturday night on the way to a 5-2 win over Pensacola at the Baseball Grounds.
Donnie Webb led off the game by reaching base on an error charged to shortstop Miguel Rojas. It was the 12th time this season that the first batter of the game for the Suns has reached base. Ryan Patterson then singled against Blue Wahoos starter Tim Crabbe, and both he and Webb advanced to second and third with no outs. Shawn Bowman delivered with the runners in scoring position, a double to right field to drive in a pair of runs for a 2-0 Suns lead. Bowman and Kyle Jensen are tied for the team lead with 13 runs batted in. Jacksonville tacked on another run in the first when Russell Mitchell singled to drive in Bowman from second. Mitchell has driven in four runs in his last three games.
Suns starting pitcher Graham Taylor was strong throughout, allowing only four singles through five innings. He was able to keep the Pensacola bats silent, the Blue Wahoos had scored 17 runs on 26 hits in the last two games. In the sixth inning, Pensacola broke through against Taylor when Henry Rodriguez beat out an infield single and Cody Puckett hit his first home run of the season to cut the Suns lead to 3-2. Puckett hit 15 home runs last season with the Carolina Mudcats, which was good for second-most on the team. He hit his first round-tripper this season in his 21st game of the year.
Down by just a run and in search of their third straight win, the Blue Wahoos went to their bullpen in the sixth and seventh innings. Drew Hayes and Wilkin De La Rosa struggled in the seventh allowing two runs, walking three batters, and hitting another.
The Suns sent eight men to the plate in the seventh, and with the bases loaded Kyle Skipworth was hit by a pitch on a full count to force in a run an increase the lead to 4-2. It was Skipworth’s 12th run batted in this season. Jose Duarte, Shawn Bowman, and Russell Mitchell each drew a base on balls in the inning, with Mitchell’s walk forcing in a run to make it 5-2.
Graham Taylor improved his record to 2-1. He pitched six innings allowing six hits and two runs, struck out five and walked only Ryan LaMarre, who was the first batter of the game. In his last two starts, Taylor has allowed eight hits and just two runs in 13 innings of work. Evan Reed earned his league-leading sixth save of the season by pitching two hitless innings and striking out two batters. Tim Crabbe was the losing pitcher and is now 1-1 on the season. He allowed seven hits and those three runs in the first inning, but none after that.
Shawn Bowman finished 2-for-3, drove in two runs, and scored another. Kyle Jensen went 2-for-4 and has had at least one hit in all four games in the series against the Wahoos. Russell Mitchell was 1-for-3 with two runs batted in. The Suns scored in the first inning for the ninth time this season, and are now 12-1 when scoring the game’s first run. With the win the Suns improved to 13-11, and are now 6-8 at home.
The rubber game of the series between the Suns and Blue Wahoos is Sunday afternoon at 3:05 pm. The game will also be televised on CW-17.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Blue Wahoos collected a dozen hits in route to a win over the Suns at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
Steve Kolbe
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos topped the Jacksonville Suns 9-3 on Thursday night at the Baseball Grounds. The win snapped the Suns five-game winning streak over the Wahoos.
Pensacola jumped out to a lead in the first inning when Ryan LaMarre and Henry Rodriguez both singled, and with one out Joel Guzman doubled to left to drive in the first run. A batter later it was 2-0 when Rodriguez scored on Brodie Greene’s ground out. It was a tough first inning for Suns starter Bryan Evans. He allowed three hits, two runs, and walked a batter.
In the bottom of the inning Jacksonville cut the lead in half when Ryan Patterson singled, stole second, and scored on a throwing error by Pensacola catcher Mark Fleury. The Suns took the lead in the third inning when Patterson and Kyle Skipworth both walked and came around to score when Russell Mitchell doubled into left to give Jacksonville a 3-2 advantage. Patterson has scored four runs in the last two games.
That Blue Wahoos scored the next seven runs in the game. Pensacola sent nine men to the plate in the fourth and scored three runs to take a 5-3 lead. Josh Fellhauer, Mark Fleury, and Mark Serrano all walked and scored in the inning. In the game, the Wahoos drew eight walks and five of them came around to score.
Pensacola scored two more in the sixth and seventh innings to build a 9-3 lead. Joel Guzman finished 4-for-5 and drove in three runs. Henry Rodriguez went 4-for-5, scored two runs and drove in another. 11 of the Blue Wahoos 12 hits in the game were singles.
The Suns were held to four hits in the game. Russell Mitchell drove in two of Jacksonville’s three runs, the other was unearned. The Suns dropped to 1-9 this season when allowing the game’s first run.
Bryan Evans dropped to 0-2. He pitched three and two-thirds innings, allowing five hits and five runs but only two were earned. Evans walked five and struck out two. The winning pitcher was Mark Serrano. He tossed three scoreless innings to improve to 2-0.
Game three of the series is Friday night with Zach Neal (2-1, 1.42) taking the mound for the Suns. The Blue Wahoos counter with Daniel Corcino (0-1, 4.12).
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News