Brewers Affiliate Has A Pitching Problem Fans Can't Ignore

Biloxi Shuckers falter despite early lead as pitching woes pave the way for a crushing defeat against Pensacola.

The Brewers’ Double-A club had the kind of night that sums up a rough stretch on the mound: plenty of offense early, a big lead, and no way to hold it.

Biloxi jumped on Pensacola right away and built a 3-0 cushion in the top of the first. Braylon Payne started it with a single, Jesus Made and Josh Adamczewski drew walks, and Andrew Fischer came up with the bases loaded.

Fischer came within inches of a grand slam, instead sending a ball off the top of the wall for an RBI single. Damon Keith followed with a single to make it 2-0, and Eric Bitonti capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.

That early burst, though, didn’t buy much time. Manuel Rodriguez made the start and lasted four innings, his shortest outing since June.

Pensacola answered quickly in the bottom of the first with three straight singles and a sacrifice fly, then kept chipping away. Rodriguez gave up two more runs in the fourth before handing things over to Jesús Broca, who worked a scoreless inning.

From there, the game slipped away. Biloxi managed just one hit from the fifth through the eighth, while Pensacola kept stacking up damage against the bullpen.

Wande Torres took the loss after Pensacola grabbed the lead for good in the sixth, and the Marlins’ affiliate blew the game open with a nine-run eighth inning. In all, Biloxi’s pitchers allowed 17 hits and six walks in the 15-7 defeat.

There was one last spark in the ninth. Made and Adamczewski went back-to-back, and Made’s homer tied the Shuckers’ single-season RBI record. But by then, the night had long since gotten away.

Biloxi finished with 11 hits and six walks. Payne led the lineup with three hits and is now hitting .819 OPS at the level.

Adamczewski reached base four times, scored twice, and drove in two. Fischer added two hits and pushed his RBI total to 112 on the season.

The lineup also got a boost from Wisconsin in the final week, with Daniel Dickinson and Bitonti both going straight into the order and picking up their first Double-A hits. Dickinson also swiped his 61st steal of the season and scored on a throwing error in the fourth.

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