Shuckers hold off Biscuits to clinch series
The Biloxi Shuckers used a familiar formula of stellar starting pitching and clutch hitting to beat the Montgomery Biscuits 4-3 and clinch a series victory Saturday night. The win was the Shuckers’ seventh over their last nine games.
The win, combined with a Pensacola loss, brought the Shuckers to within 1.5 games of the first-place Blue Wahoos in the Southern League's South Division.
Luis Ortiz (1-3) started for the Shuckers, delivering 5.0 innings of one-run ball while striking out six and walking just one. The righty made a successful return to the rotation after missing his last start due to right hamstring tightness.
Biloxi's offense got started in the second inning off Biscuits starter Jose Mujica (2-2) when Michael Reed singled and Jacob Nottingham doubled to put two runners on base. Clint Coulter followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly, and Angel Ortega added an RBI single to give the Shuckers a 2-0 lead.
In the third inning, Art Charles hit a two-run home run 397 feet beyond the right field berm to extend the lead to 4-0. The first baseman's shot was his second in as many games, and marked the fifth game in his last six in which he has driven in a run.
The Biscuits would not go away quietly, opening the scoring in the fifth with an Andrew Velazquez home run off Ortiz and a triple off Nick Ramirez in the seventh that would eventually come around to make the score 4-2.
Josh Uhen allowed two runners on in the eighth inning and Matt Ramsey entered to pick up the four-out save. Ramsey would allow an inherited run to score in the eighth, but struck out Cade Gotta to escape the jam for his seventh save.
The Shuckers and Biscuits wrap up the homestand at MGM Park at 1:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon at MGM Park with RHP Aaron Wilkerson returning to the rotation after the birth of his first child. Opposing Wilkerson for the Biscuits is RHP Tyler Brashears.
This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Shuckers hold off Biscuits to clinch series."