Historic Rally Leads Jumbo Shrimp 9-8 Victory in 11 Innings
MEMPHIS (www.sportsdayjax.com)– Down to his final strike, Jordan Groshans smashed a three-run home run in the ninth inning to tie Saturday’s game, helping the Jumbo Shrimp rally from six runs down as Jacksonville wound up beating the Memphis Redbirds 9-8 in 11 innings to secure the largest come-from-behind victory in the Jumbo Shrimp era (2017-present).
In a game Memphis (20-12) once led 6-0 and 7-1, Jacksonville (16-14) had whittled that deficit down to 8-5 in the ninth. Joey Wendle and Charles Leblanc each singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. After a strikeout, Groshans’ three-run shot knotted the score at eight.
Having yielded a run in the eighth, Jumbo Shrimp reliever Richard Rodriguez (1-0) worked 1-2-3 frames in both the ninth and 10th innings – marking the first time that the native of Santiago in the Dominican Republic went 3.0 innings in a game since June 23, 2018.
In the 11th, Jacksonville broke through for their first lead of the game. With Cobie Fletcher-Vance starting the inning on second, Redbirds reliever Jose Martinez (0-1) hit Jake Mangum with a pitch. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up before Memphis intentionally walked Leblanc to load the bases. Martinez then issued a free pass to Jerar Encarnacion to force in a run, giving the Jumbo Shrimp a 9-8 advantage.
From there, Robert Garcia fanned two in a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save, sealing Jacksonville’s largest come-from-behind win of the Jumbo Shrimp era (2017-present) and the franchise’s biggest since also rallying from six runs down on August 10, 2013 at Pensacola in an 8-6 win in 16 innings.
The Redbirds got off to a hot start on Saturday thanks to the home run ball. Moises Gomez blasted a solo shot in the first, Masyn Winn added a three-run bomb in the second and then Gomez and Luken Baker went back-to-back to start the third to make it 6-0.
It took until the fourth to finally get the Jumbo Shrimp on the board. C.J. Hinojosa doubled with one out before Austin Allen singled him to third. Fletcher-Vance then notched an RBI ground out to make it 6-1.
However, in the bottom of the fourth, Memphis got the run back. Winn and Jordan Walker each drew free passes to start the frame. After a pair of outs, an error scored win to put the Redbirds up 7-1.
Jacksonville began crawling back in the sixth. Groshans doubled to begin the frame before Jacob Amaya walked. After a strikeout, Allen socked a three-run home run to halve the deficit to 7-4.
A Wendle home run to lead off the seventh made it 7-5. In the bottom of the seventh, Encarnacion threw out Kramer Robertson at the plate trying to score on a Winn single to keep things at two. Oscar Mercado’s sacrifice fly in the eighth put the margin at 8-5.
Jacksonville bids for a series win at Memphis in Sunday’s 3:05 p.m. ET contest. RHP Ronald Bolaños (0-2, 3.00 ERA) starts for the Jumbo Shrimp against Redbirds LHP Zack Thompson (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
