JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Peyton Burdick blasted his ninth homer of the season as the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp defeated the Lehigh Valley IronPigs 6-1 in their rain-shortened contest Thursday night at 121 Financial Ballpark.
The Jumbo Shrimp (11-11) saw their offensive scoreless inning streak come to an end at 15 when they plated three runs in the bottom of the second.
Down 1-0, Jerar Encarnacion led off with a walk and went to second two batters later when Charles Leblanc worked another free pass against IronPigs (11-12) starter Michael Plassmeyer (L, 0-2). In the ensuing at-bat, Jacob Amaya knocked a single, scoring Encarnacion to tie the game at one.
Leblanc advanced to second and then scored the go-ahead run when Jake Mangum reached on an error. With runners on second and third, Santiago Chavez walked to load the bases and Xavier Edwards then walked with the bases loaded, bringing in the third run of the inning.
Jacksonville padded their lead in the bottom of the third. Encarnacion doubled with one out and scored two batters later as Leblanc reached on Lehigh Valley’s second fielding error of the game, increasing the lead to 4-1.
Burdick put the nail in the coffin in the bottom of the seventh inning with a two-run homer, his ninth of the season, to give Jacksonville a five-run lead, 6-1.
Lehigh Valley drew first blood for the third game in a row with one run in the second inning. Scott Kingery led off with a walk and went to second as Vito Friscia drew a walk three batters later. With two outs, Simon Muzziotti knocked a base hit, plating Kingery for a 1-0 lead.
Jacksonville got a tremendous performance from their bullpen. Jackson Rose and Will Stewart combined for five scoreless innings, allowing six hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Jumbo Shrimp continue their series with the IronPigs Friday at 7:05 p.m. Jacksonville will hand the ball to RHP Chi Chi González (2-1, 4.40) while Lehigh Valley will counter with LHP Cristopher Sanchez (0-0, 1.04).