Shuckers down Biscuits
The Biloxi Shuckers grabbed their first win of the second-half with a 5-1 victory over the Montgomery Biscuits on Saturday night at MGM Park.
A crowd of 4,027 witnessed Biloxi snap a two-game losing streak to start the half as starting pitcher Wei-Chung Wang set a new career-high with nine strikeouts in the winning effort.
Biloxi (1-2, 40-32) got on the scoreboard first with one out in the fourth inning. After Garrett Cooper (1x4, RBI) flied out to right to start the frame, Tyrone Taylor (2x4, 2 R, 2B) and Nick Ramirez (1x3, BB) singled to put two on for Gabriel Noriega (0x2, BB), who drew a free pass to load the bases. Chris McFarland (0x2, 2 RBI) lifted a fly to left field that was caught by Pat Blair, but dropped on the exchange. Taylor tagged and scored from third, but Ramirez was thrown out at third to end the inning. The Shuckers led 1-0.
The Shuckers tacked on three more in the fifth to extend their advantage to four.
Angel Ortega (2x4) singled to right to start the inning and advanced to second on Johnny Davis’ (3x4, R) bunt single. Jacob Nottingham (1x4, R) singled to left, but Ortega was nabbed at the plate on a strong throw by Blair. With runners at first and second, Brett Phillips (1x3, 2 RBI, R, 2B) laced a double down the line in left to score Davis and Nottingham, with Phillips advancing to third on the play. Cooper ripped a line drive to left to score Phillips for the Shuckers’ fourth run of the game.
Wang (3-3) struck out a career-high nine Biscuits across 6.2 innings. The native of Taiwan allowed only two hits and issued two walks in his second quality start of the season, with 101 pitches (62 strikes). The 24-year-old earned his first win since a 1-0 victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on April 21 at MGM Park
Montgomery (2-1, 36-37) broke up the shutout against reliever Tyler Spurlin (2.1 IP, R, 2 H, BB, 2 SO) in the eighth on Mike Marjama’s run-scoring single to right, plating Cade Gotta to shrink the Shuckers’ lead to three.
Biloxi grabbed the run back with another sacrifice fly off the bat of McFarland in the home half of the eighth, to lead 5-1.
Spurlin set the side down in order in the ninth to preserve the four-run victory.
The Shuckers will look to pull even in the five-game series in game four at 5:10 p.m. Sunday night at MGM Park. RHP Jorge Ortega (1-6, 4.13) takes the mound for Biloxi, while Montgomery counters with LHP Chris Kirsch (4-2, 3.36)
This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Shuckers down Biscuits."