The Jacksonville Suns (1-5, 38-38) fell in their fifth straight game, dropping the opener of the six-game series against the Birmingham Barons (4-2, 44-32) 7-3 in front of 3,883 fans at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville on Tuesday night.
The five-game losing streak is the longest the Suns have had this season, and Jacksonville is now 1-5 in the second half of the 2011 campaign. Barons starter Cameron Bayne (1-0) earned the win in his Southern League debut, going six innings while giving up three runs on five hits.
Birmingham took an early 2-0 lead thanks to a first-inning two-run homer by catcher Josh Phegley. The Suns got a run back in the second with Chris Gutierrez’s RBI triple to cut the score to 2-1. The Barons got back to their two-run lead as Seth Loman hit a solo homer in the fourth, his fourth of the year against Jacksonville, to make it 3-1.
The Suns fought back in the bottom of the fourth with Kevin Mattison’s sacrifice fly that put the score at 3-2, before Luke Montz tied the game with a solo homer to lead off the fifth. The blast was Montz’s sixteenth of the season, second most in the league, and evened the score at three. Suns starter Omar Poveda left after the sixth inning, taking a no decision as he allowed three runs on five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts.
The game remained tied until the top of the seventh when a sacrifice fly by Birmingham’s Jake Oester put the Barons back ahead 4-3. Birmingham added another run in the eighth, as Brandon Short hit a leadoff homer that put the score at 5-3. During the next at-bat, Suns manager Andy Barkett and pitching coach John Duffy were ejected by the umpires for arguing.
The Barons tacked on two more runs in the eighth thanks to a two-RBI double by Greg Paiml to cap the scoring at 7-3. Reliever Kris Harvey (0-1) took the loss for the Suns after giving up three runs in an inning and two thirds of work.
The Suns and Barons will play the second game of the six-game series on Wednesday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The Suns will start right-hander Dallas Trahern (1-2, 4.79 ERA) against Birmingham’s right-hander Nevin Griffith (5-3, 6.53 ERA).
The game will feature “Wicked Wednesday,” and “Racing Night,” at the Baseball Grounds, as Ladies can enjoy 2 for 1 tickets and everyone can enjoy 2 for 1 cocktails plus $2 beers from Miller. Fans can also come in their favorite NASCAR driver’s colors for their chance to win tickets to the July Daytona race with other prizes and fans can check out the Geico Toyota Sprint Cup Series #13 car of Casey Mears.
Wednesday’s first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.,
