Blue Wahoos Drop Homestand Finale, Split Series With Shuckers

Pensacola, Fla. - The Blue Wahoos wrapped up their second longest stretch of home games, which featured some big crowds, breakthrough events and cooperative weather during the nine-game period.

On the field, however, the Blue Wahoos wished for a few more wins.

After taking three of the first four games against the Biloxi Shuckers, the weekend and homestand ended in a glum way in a 6-1 loss Sunday before 3,987 fans at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

It earned the Shuckers (47-47 overall, 17-10 in second half) a split in the series, following their 8-4 win Saturday night. Sunday’s win also enabled Biloxi to split the second half matchups (6-6) against the Blue Wahoos (52-43, 14-13) – a tiebreaker the Blue Wahoos missed claiming if the teams tie in a second-half divisional race.

When the Blue Wahoos next return home, it will be mid-August, following a back-to-back set of road trips beginning on Tuesday against the Chattanooga Lookouts, followed by the last-ever trip to Trustmark Park to play the Mississippi Braves. The M-Braves are moving to Columbus, Georgia following this season.

In going 3-6 at home the past two weeks, a familiar theme emerged. The Blue Wahoos lacked big innings and extra-base hits with runners on base.

Sunday, the Blue Wahoos left 11 runners on base and produced just five hits.

Patrick Monteverde delivered a quality start, working six innings and allowing just two earned runs with four strikeouts. He absorbed a hard-luck loss.

Meanwhile, the Shuckers' Jacob Misiorowski, the Milwaukee Brewers No. 2 rated prospect whose status is rising, made his second start of the week, checking the Blue Wahoos on just one hit with three strikeouts, three walks in 3.2 innings.

The Shuckers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a bloop single and a wild pitch.

The Blue Wahoos missed a big chance in the fifth inning when loading the bases with one out. Shuckers reliever Will Childers then got Joe Mack to hit a slow roller back toward the mound for an easy force-out at the plate, and Jacob Berry popped out to end the inning.

Paul McIntosh drove home the Blue Wahoos' lone run in the seventh with his two-out single that scored Jakob Marsee, who had reached on a walk.

The Shuckers broke open the game with a 4-run rally in the ninth, taking advantage of a fielding error and walk to string together hits against Blue Wahoos reliever Woo Suk-Go, who has struggled since joining the team.

A good portion of the crowd, however, remained on the Family and Military Sunday, sponsored by WKRG News5 and Great Clips, to fill the field after the game. Children 12 and under on Sunday can run the bases and families can toss baseballs in the outfield for 30 minutes.

GAME NOTABLES

--- For Sunday’s game, as part of the day’s promotion, the first 100 active or retire military members received a free ticket by going to the box office.

--- A group of a 100-plus youth baseball players who participated in the Blue Wahoos Baseball Clinic, held Friday and Saturday, received a free ticket and were able to parade on the field before the game.

--- The Blue Wahoos’ newest player, outfielder Andrew Pintar, who joined the team Saturday following his trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks organization as part of the deal for veteran Miami Marlins reliever A.J. Puk, made his debut and led off the game for the Blue Wahoos as the starting centerfielder.

Pintar showed his speed in beating out an infield grounder, one of the Blue Wahoos' five hits.

--- Rev. Patrick J. LaPointe, known as “Father Patrick” from Pensacola’s historic St. Joseph’s Catholic Church downtown, performed the National Anthem. The Gulf Breeze High School ROTC group were the Color Guard for the Anthem.

WHAT’S NEXT?

WHO: Blue Wahoos vs. Chattanooga Lookouts

WHEN: Tuesday Thru Sunday (Aug. 4)

WHERE: AT&T Field, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

FOLLOWING WEEK: The Blue Wahoos will then travel to face the Mississippi Braves in Pearl, Miss. from Aug. 6-Aug. 11.

TV: A live video broadcast available each game on live stream broadcast on Bally Live and MLB.TV (subscription required).

RADIO: Available each game of these next two road series on www.bluewahoos.com/radio or the MiLB app with Blue Wahoos broadcaster Erik Bremer, traveling with the team and working all the road games from the visiting broadcast booth.

NEXT HOMESTAND: Begins on August 13 against the Montgomery Biscuits. It will be six-game series from Aug. 13-18.

TICKETS: Tickets are available through www.bluewahoos.com/tickets and at the box office at Blue Wahoos Stadium, which will be open on Tuesday-Friday this week and next week.