Shuckers hit four homers, still fall to Biscuits

The Biloxi Shuckers matched a club record with four homers on Friday night, but fell a run short to the Montgomery Biscuits, 10-9, at MGM Park.

The 3,315 at MGM Park on Friday witnessed a 12-run first inning that included eight walks, two hit-batters, two home runs, four pitchers and 74 total pitches thrown. The second-straight loss drops Biloxi to 0-2 in the second-half and 23-13 at MGM Park this season.

Montgomery (2-0, 36-36) raced out to a 6-0 lead after Biloxi’s starting pitcher, Javi Salas, could not make it out of the first inning. The right-hander allowed two runs on four walks in the opening frame before being lifted with the bases loaded and two outs.

Gage Smith (1-1) was the first reliever summoned out of the bullpen, and the sidewinder could not stop the bleeding, as the Biscuits tallied four more runs on two walks, a hit batter and a single to end the inning.

Biloxi (0-2, 39-32) struck back with six runs of its own in the home half of the inning. Brett Phillips (1x5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R) blasted a three-run homer over the wall in left to plate the first three runs of the game for the Shuckers. The 22-year-old leads the club with 10 home runs on the season and has reached base safely in 23 of his last 25 games.

Nick Ramirez (2x4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) launched a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right for a solo shot for the fifth run of the inning. Angel Ortega (2x4, RBI, 2B) picked up his first Double-A hit with a run-scoring double to score Javier Betancourt (0x3, R, BB) to tie the game.

The Biscuits added two runs in each of the second and third innings to extend their lead over the Shuckers to 10-7, but would not add on any more tallies after the third inning.

Ramirez added his second long ball of the game in the fifth to pull Biloxi within two. Tyrone Taylor (2x3, HR, 3 RBI, R) smacked his third round tripper of the year in the seventh to make the score 10-9.

Jeff Ames (SV, 1) worked the final two innings for Montgomery and allowed a hit while striking out two to earn his first save of the season. Reliever Steve Ascher (3-1) tossed 4.1 innings, allowing just two runs behind starter Jordan Guerrieri earned the win. Guerrieri only posted 0.2 in his start, giving up six runs on six hits with two walks.

The Shuckers will look to avoid the series defeat in game three of the five-game set on Saturday night at MGM Park. LHP Wei-Chung Wang (2-3, 4.53) takes the mound for Biloxi, while Montgomery counters with RHP Chic-Wei Hu (2-4, 2.01).

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Shuckers hit four homers, still fall to Biscuits."