Back-to-back home runs by Ricardo Sosa and Bryan Byrne capped off a six-run eighth inning and a 10-4 victory for the
Mobile BayBears over the Carolina Mudcats on Thursday night at Hank Aaron Stadium.
Leading by only a run entering the last of the eighth, the BayBears (6-2) were aided by shoddy Carolina (4-4) defense, including an error by Zach Cozart
that allowed Pedro Ciriaco to reach. Two batters later, Evan Frey’s sacrifice bunt attempt turned into disaster for the Mudcats as Ramon Geronimo chucked the baseball down the right field line, bringing Ciriaco and Chris Rahl home to score.
After a groundout and intentional walk, Sosa lit up the night with a three-run homer, giving him 13 RBI this season and 12 hits in the last four games. Byrne’s solo blast followed Sosa’s shot, and the BayBears were in front 10-3.
Each player collected four hits on the contest, and they now rank second and
third in the league in batting average. Chris Rahl, Byrne, and Gerardo Parra rank 1-2-3 in the league in on-base percentage while Sosa is tied for the
league-lead with three homers and easily first with those 13 RBI.
Vince Bongiovanni (1-0) replaced Barry Enright, who was strong in five innings of work
and has a 2.70 ERA in two starts. Bongiovanni worked two perfect innings while the BayBears were behind 3-2. In the home half of the sixth, a sac fly by Frey scored Ciriaco before a two-out RBI single by Sosa put the BayBears on top.
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