JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Suns won for the sixth straight time at the Baseball Grounds, pulling to within one game of first place in the South Division, with a 7-1 win over the Montgomery Biscuits on Sunday night. The Suns began the series four games off the pace in the division.
The Biscuits snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak when Hak-Ju Lee hit a home run off of Suns starter Bryan Evans on the first pitch of the game. It's the only run of the series for Montgomery, with the Suns outscoring the Biscuits 10-1 in the first three games. The Biscuits have been held to 14 hits, with only two for extra bases.
The Suns took the lead in the home half of the first off of Biscuits starter Jake Thompson. Jake Smolinski led off with a double, and went to third on a single by Chris Gutierrez. Paul Gran drove in the first run of the night with a sacrifice fly, with Smolinski coasting home to tie the game 1-1. After Kyle Skipworth reached on an error, Curt Smith drove in Gutierrez with a RBI single to put the Suns in front to stay 2-1.
In the second inning, Gutierrez walked and scored all the way from first when Gran hit his fourth triple of the season to straight-away center field to make the score 3-1. Jacksonville has outscored opponents 118-78 in the first two innings this season.
The Suns scored three more in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 6-1, with Taylor Krick and Donnie Webb each driving in a run. The big hit in the inning was off the bat of Kyle Skipworth, who belted his 16th home run of the season. Skipworth has hit nine of the Suns last 18 homers.
Jacksonville tacked on one more in the eighth inning, when Gutierrez drove in a run with a ground out to pad the lead to 7-1. The Suns improved to 14-13 against the South Division in the second half with the win.
Bryan Evans (4-6) allowed one run on three hits in 5.1 innings of work for the win. He tied his season-high with eight strikeouts. Evans is now 2-3 at the Baseball Grounds. Jake Thompson (7-10) surrendered six runs on seven hits and lost his fourth straight game.
The Suns can tie the Biscuits for first place with a win Monday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from the Baseball Grounds. LHP Brian Flynn (1-0, 3.86) will start his third game for the Suns. RHP Matt Buschmann (5-6, 4.00) gets the call for the Biscuits.
