Juan Matheus homered and delivered a safety squeeze bunt single as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos defeated the Knoxville Smokies 6-3 Friday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola, Fla.
A two-hour lightning delay moved the scheduled 6:05 p.m. start to 8 p.m. The victory gave Pensacola its 11th win in its past 13 games and kept the Blue Wahoos 4.5 games ahead of the Montgomery Biscuits with 20 games remaining in the regular season.
Knoxville Builds an Early Lead
The Knoxville Smokies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Orlando Ortiz-Mayr. A leadoff walk was followed by an RBI single from Arial Armas.
Knoxville added two runs in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Edgar Alvarez and an RBI double by Carter Trice. Matheus answered for Pensacola in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run.
Blue Wahoos Take Control
Pensacola scored four runs in the fifth inning. Colby Shade doubled, stole third and scored on Adrian Santana’s RBI infield single before Aiva Arquette singled and participated in a double steal.
Brandon Compton then hit a two-run double to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, and Ethan O’Donnell followed with an RBI single for a 5-3 lead. Compton’s double was his 11th in 17 August games, making him the fifth Pensacola Blue Wahoos player in franchise history to hit 11 doubles in a month and the first since Troy Johnston did so in July 2023.
The hit extended Compton’s hitting streak to 12 games, tying Cam Cannarella for the longest hitting streak by a Blue Wahoos player this season. Pensacola added its final run in the seventh inning when Santana reached on an error and scored on Matheus’ safety squeeze bunt single.
Pensacola Bullpen Closes the Game
Logan Whitaker pitched 1.2 scoreless innings for the Blue Wahoos. Nigel Belgrave recorded the final seven outs and earned his team-leading eighth save.
The Blue Wahoos are scheduled to continue their series against the Knoxville Smokies on Saturday night at Blue Wahoos Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. CT, with the live broadcast scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. CT on Blab TV, Bally Sports Live, BlueWahoos.com/radio and the MiLB app.
Source: Original report