JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp catcher Cam Maron hit a three-run home run to cap a four-run first inning, and left-hander Matt Tomshaw pitched seven innings for his eighth win and the club’s sixth straight, 6-4 over the Mobile BayBears, in front of 3,028 on Baptist Health Sunday Family FUNday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
The Jumbo Shrimp (7-3 second half, 37-43 overall) opened a 4-0 lead in the first inning against BayBears right-hander Alex Klonowski (4-4). Center fielder Braxton Lee hit a leadoff double to center field, and left fielder Kyle Barrett reached on a bunt single. Third baseman Brian Anderson hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Lee. Barrett stole second base before a Klonowski pitch hit Jumbo Shrimp right fielder John Norwood, who was replaced by pinch runner Yefri Perez. As the next batter, Maron swatted his third home run to the right-field bleachers to extend the lead to 4-0.
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In the next inning, Lee hit a two-out solo home run to the same right-field bleachers to make it 5-0. It was Lee’s first home run as a Jumbo Shrimp and third in the Southern League this season. Jacksonville is 5-0 during Lee’s five-game hitting streak as Jacksonville’s leadoff batter and center fielder since being acquired by the Miami Marlins in a trade with Tampa Bay last Monday. In that span, he is 11-for-20 with five runs, two doubles, one home run and six RBIs. As of Sunday afternoon, his .337 batting average, 52 runs and 95 hits all led the Southern League.
Tomshaw (8-4) shut out the BayBears (3-7, 33-46) for the first three innings. In the fourth inning, Mobile second baseman David Fletcher hit a leadoff single, and shortstop Sherman Johnson hit his second home run to right field to cut the Jumbo Shrimp lead to 5-2. Tomshaw did not allow another hit, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters to finish seven innings, allowing four hits, no walks and one hit batter with three strikeouts. He is tied for second in the league with eight wins.
The Jumbo Shrimp added a sixth-inning run, as Maron hit a leadoff single and later scored on first baseman Taylor Ard’s RBI single. The 6-2 lead remained until the ninth inning, when right-hander Esmerling De La Rosa allowed doubles to Fletcher and Johnson, with both later scoring. Right-hander Clayton Mortensen got the final three outs for his third save.