written by Bill Vilona
Led by Luis Palacios, who made his best start in a month, the Blue Wahoos once again showed a strong performance from their pitchers on Wednesday.
But this time a single point was not enough.
The Mississippi Braves scored two runs on four singles, all with two outs, in the fifth inning to secure a 2-1 win over the Blue Wahoos, evening the series at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Palacios followed up Blue Wahoos starter Patrick Monteverde’s masterful performance with a strong performance of his own on Tuesday. He did not allow a walk in six innings pitched and had only one batter walk more than the minimum in the first four innings. The fifth inning went in the same direction until four consecutive M-Braves batters singled with two outs.
That made the difference in a game that saw 15 hits but only two of them for extra bases. Palacios (8-7) had allowed a total of 22 hits and 16 runs in three previous starts in August, pushing his earned run average to 4.81 before Wednesday’s game.
He found a good rhythm on Tuesday and put the Blue Wahoos in a good position to take the lead.
That seemed to be the pattern in the sixth inning. Jared Serna led off with a single and Nathan Martorella and Graham Pauley followed with singles each that scored the Blue Wahoos’ only run.
But with runners on the corners and one out, M-Braves relief pitcher Rolddy Muñoz struck out Joe Mack and Andrew Pintar, ending the inning in a game-winning sequence.
The Blue Wahoos didn’t put two runners on base for the rest of the game. Three M-Braves relief pitchers followed with shutout innings, including former Pensacola State College star Patrick Halligan, who earned his sixth hold with a hitless eighth inning.
Serna finished the game 2-for-4 as the only Blue Wahoos batter to have multiple hits. In the ninth inning, M-Braves closer Elison Joseph made short work of three batters to end the game.
The third game of the series will take place on Thursday at 6:05 p.m., with Evan Fitterer (6-5, 4.06) of the Blue Wahoos facing the converted knuckleball pitcher David Fletcher (3-5, 5.85) of the M-Braves, who previously played as an infielder for the Los Angeles Angels.
Fletcher is trying to make his career comeback and become a two-way player like his former teammate Shohei Ohtani.
The Wahoos will face the Mississippi Graves on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
