
Suns starter Graham Taylor(above)allowed one run in seven innings of work to help Jacksonville edge the Mississippi Braves 2-1 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Suns starter Graham Taylor(above)allowed one run in seven innings of work to help Jacksonville edge the Mississippi Braves 2-1 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Braves scored five runs in the ninth inning against Suns closer A.J. Ramos for an 8-5 win at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville July 20, 2012. Photo Courtesy: Mississippi Braves
By Steve Kolbe
The Mississippi Braves scored five runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Suns 8-5 on Friday night at the Baseball Grounds. The Braves won for the first time this season when trailing going into the ninth (1-43). The Suns lost for just the second time when leading heading into the ninth inning (37-2).
The Suns took a 2-0 lead in the home half of the fifth, when Donnie Webb hit a two-run home run to right field off of Braves starter J.R. Graham. It was Webb’s first home run since June 23rd and his sixth round tripper of the season.
Mississippi scored three runs on three hits in the seventh inning against Suns starter Bryan Evans to take a 3-2 advantage. Todd Cunningham drove two of the runs with a double off of reliever Jordan Conley. In the home half of the seventh, the Suns loaded the bases when Kyle Jensen and Danny Pertusati walked, and Jeff Dominguez singled. Donnie Webb then doubled in the gap in right-center to clear the bases and put the Suns in front 5-3.
A.J. Ramos entered the game for the ninth, and for just the third time this season was unable to lock down the win. The Braves took advantage of three walks, and a pair RBI singles by Christian Bethancourt and Joe Terdoslavich to tie the game 5-5. With the bases loaded and two outs, Keenan Wiley hit a ball to center field that glanced of off Donnie Webb’s glove while he was attempting to make the catch, with three runs crossing the plate to give the Braves an 8-5 win.
Only three Suns players had hits in the game. Donnie Webb went 2-for-5 and drove in all five runs. It’s the second-most runs batted in for a Suns player in a game this season (Kyle Skipworth drove in six at Chattanooga May 26th). Jeff Dominguez had three singles, and Chris Gutierrez singled to increase his hitting streak to 15 games. Christian Bethancourt, Joe Terdoslavich, and Jason Christian each collected two hits for the Braves.
Starter Bryan Evans allowed three runs on six hits over six and a-third innings in a no decision. A.J. Ramos (3-1) allowed five runs (2 ER) on two hits in the ninth inning and lost for the first time this season. All three batters he walked in the inning came around to score. Cory Rasmus (2-3) allowed just one hit over two innings to earn the win.
The Suns missed out on a chance to get back to the .500 mark for the first time since June 28, when they were 4-4. Playing at home hasn’t been an advantage lately for the Suns, with just two wins in their last seven games at the Baseball Grounds.
Game three of the series is Saturday from the Baseball Grounds with the first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. LHP Jose Alvarez (2-5, 4.05) will start for the Suns. RHP Gary Moran (3-7, 3.15) takes the hill for the Braves.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
By Steve Kolbe
A day after allowing a season-high 13 runs, the Jacksonville Suns rebounded for a 6-1 win over the Braves at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi on Friday night.
The Suns broke the ice in the first inning against Braves starter Luis Avilan. Donnie Webb led off the inning with a walk, and Jake Smolinski reached on a throwing error by third baseman Joe Terdoslavich, with Webb advancing to third on the play. Avilan then threw his fourth wild pitch of the season, with Webb scoring to give the Suns a 1-0 advantage. The Suns have scored at least one run in the first inning in 18 games this season, and are 15-3 in those games. Jacksonville is now 26-6 when crossing the plate first.
In the third inning, Webb found himself in the middle of the offense again when he led off with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Shawn Bowman to increase the Suns lead to 2-0.
Suns starter Bryan Evans baffled the Braves throughout the night, and after allowing a single in the first inning he retired the next 16 batters he faced until the seventh inning. In the seventh, Keenan Wiley led off with a bunt single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Tim Smith put the Braves on the board with a RBI single, with Wiley scoring to cut the Suns lead to 2-1. Kyle Kaminska took over for Evans to record the final out of the inning.
In the eighth inning, the Suns scored four runs against reliever Brett Cammons, all with two outs. Jake Smolinksi walked and scored when Shawn Bowman hit his team-leading 16th double of the season, and the lead was 3-1. Kyle Jensen extended the inning when he reached base on an infield single, with Smolinski moving around to third to put runners on the corners. Curt Smith delivered the big hit in the inning, with a towering three-run home run to left field to pad the Suns lead to 6-1. After going without a round tripper since the first series of the year, Smith has now hit two home runs in his last four games.
The Suns have won seven of their last 10 road games, and improved to 19-14 away from home this season. Jacksonville has scored at least five runs in six of their last seven road wins. The Suns won for just the second time this season on Friday (2-9). The Braves have lost six of their last eight games overall. Mississippi has won two games in a row only once in the last 22 games.
Suns shortstop Chris Gutierrez extended his hit streak to 14 games with a single in the third inning. He hasn’t gone hitless since May 30th. Mississippi center fielder Todd Cunningham also increased his hit streak to 14 consecutive games with a single in the first. Shawn Bowman drove in two runs for the Suns, and now leads the team with 32 runs batted in. Curt Smith has hit two three-run home runs in the last week, and he now has 27 runs batted in this season.
Bryan Evans entered the game among the top five pitchers in the league in lowest batting average against. He had a dominant performance, pitching six and two-thirds innings and allowing one run on three hits to improve his record to 2-4. He has won his last two decisions. Evans struck out a season-high eight batters, including striking out the side in the second inning and retiring the side in the third on just nine pitches. Evans retired 16 Braves in a row after allowing a single in the first inning. Kyle Kaminska and A.J. Ramos combined to pitch the final two and a-third innings.
Braves starter Luis Avilan pitched a season-high six innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run, but saw his record fall to 1-5 on the season.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News