MOBILE, AL - Johnny Davis reached a stolen base milestone on Sunday night, swiping his 49th, 50th, 51st and 52nd bags of the season as the Biloxi Shuckers beat the Mobile BayBears 4-2 in 13 innings at Hank Aaron Stadium. Gabriel Noriega 's 13th-inning single proved to be the game-winner
MOBILE, AL - Johnny Davis reached a stolen base milestone on Sunday night, swiping his 49th, 50th, 51st and 52nd bags of the season as the Biloxi Shuckers beat the Mobile BayBears 4-2 in 13 innings at Hank Aaron Stadium. Gabriel Noriega 's 13th-inning single proved to be the game-winner as the Shuckers clinched a series win in their final series of the season.
Davis joined some elite company with his four stolen bases, joining Dee Gordon, Zack Granite and Billy Hamilton as the only Southern League speedsters since 2010 to steal 50 in a season. He leads all of Double-A baseball with his prodigious total and has increased his frequency in recent weeks with 13 stolen bases in his last 13 games. His four-steal game ties him with former teammate Mauricio Dubón for the Shuckers single-game record, as Dubon completed the feat on April 15.
The Shuckers struck first in the top of the third inning, getting a bases-loaded RBI single from Dustin DeMuth to take a 1-0 lead. It would have been a bigger head start, but Dustin Houle was thrown out trying to score from second on DeMuth's hit and the Shuckers eventually left the bases loaded.
Luis Ortiz started for the Shuckers and cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. The righty allowed two bases-loaded walks with two outs to Zach Gibbons and Michael Barash to give the BayBears a 2-1 lead. Ortiz would recover for a scoreless fourth inning before being lifted for Travis Hissong .
Hissong would give the Shuckers 3.0 innings of scoreless relief, and Troy Stokes Jr. tied the game back up in the sixth with an RBI double down the left field line that scored Gabriel Noriega .
The game remained tied until the 13th thanks to Jorge López (W, 8-8), who retired all nine men he faced. In the top of the 13th, Davis led off the inning with a hit by pitch and promptly stole second for his third steal of the night. After Jake Gatewood walked, the duo pulled off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. With two outs, Noriega broke a six-inning hitless streak with a two-run single to center off Garrett Nuss (L, 0-1) to take a 4-2 lead.
Matt Ramsey (S, 27) pitched the bottom of the 13th to earn his league-leading 27th save. It was the 24th extra-inning game for the Shuckers this season, tops in the Southern League. They improved to 13-11 in such games.
The Shuckers conclude their season on Monday as Cody Ponce faces off against Luis Peña. First pitch from Hank Aaron Stadium is at 12:05 pm, and live coverage begins at 11:45 am on Cruisin' WGCM AM-1240/FM-100.9 and the Shuckers Radio Network. The game will also be available at biloxishuckers.com, MiLB.TV and TuneIn Radio.
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.
