McIntosh, Wahoos Start Final Road Trip with Win over Barons
Birmingham, Ala. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos began their final road trip of the regular season with a bang on Tuesday night, riding a four-run first inning to a 5-1 win over the Birmingham Barons. Paul McIntosh blasted a three-run homer, his third long ball in the past three games,
Birmingham, Ala. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos began their final road trip of the regular season with a bang on Tuesday night, riding a four-run first inning to a 5-1 win over the Birmingham Barons.
Paul McIntosh blasted a three-run homer, his third long ball in the past three games, to cap the four-run first inning. Luis Palacios (W, 9-7) handled the rest, working 5.1 innings of one-run ball for his 19th career Blue Wahoos win to tie a career franchise record.
The first batter of the game, Andrew Pintar, reached on a missed catch error from Barons first baseman Shawn Goosenberg and scored on a Graham Pauley sacrifice fly. With two outs and two on in the inning, McIntosh launched his homer off the left field videoboard for a 4-0 Pensacola lead.
All four runs were unearned for Barons starter Riley Gowens (L, 1-3), who was handed the tough-luck loss.
The Barons got a run back in the first inning when Rikuu Nishida singled and scored on a wild pitch in his Double-A debut. That was all Palacios would allow, pitching into the sixth inning for his first winning decision since late July.
The Blue Wahoos added an insurance run in the sixth on a Johnny Olmstead RBI triple, and relievers Matt Pushard, Chandler Jozwiak and Dale Stanavich combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless relief to close out the win.
The Blue Wahoos gained a half game on Biloxi and a full game on Mississippi in the chase for a potential Southern League wild card spot. With 11 games remaining, they are 3.5 games back of the Shuckers and 2.5 games behind the Braves.
The series continues Wednesday in Birmingham, with a 7:00 CT first pitch from Regions Field. Fans can watch a Barons-produced video broadcast on Bally Live or MLB.tv, or listed to a free audio broadcast on BlueWahoos.com/radio or the MiLB app.