Bullpen falters in extra-inning loss to Braves on Wednesday

PEARL, MS - The Mississippi Braves rallied twice in the late innings to tie the Biloxi Shuckers and broke through in the twelfth to take their first lead and win 5-4 on Wednesday night. Despite the loss, the Shuckers gained a half-game from the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and find themselves two games back of first place in the South Division with 11 games to go in the first half. The loss dropped the Shuckers to 5-4 in extra-inning games.
Corbin Burnes , who pitched 3.2 no-hit innings last week before a rain delay ended his Double-A debut, continued his dominance against a potent Braves lineup in his second Shuckers start. The righty completed 7.0 innings on 105 pitches, scattering five hits and two runs while striking out seven batters. He also collected his first professional hit with a double in the seventh inning.

Over the past three games, Shuckers starters Bubba Derby , Angel Ventura and Burnes have combined to allow just four runs on 10 hits over 20.2 IP (1.78 ERA). The group is 1-1 over the trio of games with Burnes getting the no-decision on Wednesday.
The Shuckers scored in the first inning for the fourth time in five games, jumping out to a 2-0 lead against Max Fried. Johnny Davis and Mauricio Dubón both singled to start the game and pulled off a double steal to extend their leads as the two most prolific base stealers in the Southern League. Blake Allemand followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly, and Jacob Nottingham brought in another run with an RBI double.
Mississippi evened the score in the third with a two-run single from Robert Acuña, but the Shuckers took the lead back in the fourth with doubles from Michael Choice and Dustin Houle .
After Burnes departed, Tayler Scott pitched a scoreless eighth. Matt Ramsey  was a strike away from his 15th save in the ninth inning, but Jared James hit an RBI single to tie the game at three. The blown save was the first this season for Ramsey, who was ejected from the game after completing the inning.
In the tenth, Allemand continued his hot hitting with a one-out single off Bradley Roney. Choice followed with an RBI double to give the Shuckers a 4-3 lead, but Josh Uhen (L, 1-1) allowed an RBI sacrifice fly to Sal Giardina to tie the game back up.
After a scoreless 11th, Michael Mader (W, 4-3) pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 12th and Reed Harper hit a walk-off sacrifice fly off Uhen in the bottom half to give the Braves a 5-4 victory.
The Shuckers look to salvage their series finale on Thursday night. Luis Ortiz is scheduled to pitch for Biloxi opposite Luiz Gohara for Mississippi. First pitch is set for 7:00 pm with coverage beginning at 6:40 p.m. on the Biloxi Shuckers Radio Network's flagship station WGCM 1240 AM/100.9 FM and the TuneIn Radio app.
The Shuckers will return to MGM Park on Friday for a five-game homestand with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance at any Ticketmaster outlet or biloxishuckers.com.
ABOUT THE BILOXI SHUCKERS: The Biloxi Shuckers are the Double-A Southern League Affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Shuckers play at MGM Park in Biloxi, Mississippi. For more information, please visit biloxishuckers.com and follow us on Twitter @biloxishuckers and at facebook.com/biloxishuckers.com.