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Payne makes sure the fielder can't get to this hit and crushed a homer (his 2nd this year) to right. Next batter and Bitonti crushes it deep to right but still in the ballpark and a nice play against the wall by the RF, who was shaken up after the catch. So no back to back jacks. But Muddies up 2-0 in the 3rd.

Muddies strike first. Tyler Rodriguez with his second hit as a Mudcat drives in the run. Just roped into left. Made lines to left as well and under it enough to get to the fielder. Hernandez with two quick outs in the 3rd, with a grounder and a nice change up to get a K. And another K with another change up. Hernandez dialed in. His delivery seems all arm however, and I worry about that moving forward. I'm watching on a delay - so not updating real time, but about a half inning behind right now.

Melvin Hernandez with a good start. 2 IP, and had no serious contact with a hard hit grounder to first that got past Bitonti (camera angle did not show it, so hard to know if it was playable) and the second hit was dribbler up the 3rd base line that never crossed the foul line. A couple well hit balls right a fielders. Di Turi gets a hit tonight on a weird pop up that the wind pushed into fair territory and had the 3rd baseman fooled, as it must have moved a lot. So a couple hits for the Muddies based upon poor fielding. We will take it.

Sounds like the outfielder lost it in the sun, but Payne was on his horse and legged it out. So yes he looks healthy. And Bitonti strikes out, he is still missing too many, when he makes contact look out, but Eric has to work on contact. Pena hit it hard but right at the SS.

Yeah. He has looked good. Looked in command of his pitches today. Max velo was 94 touched 95 I think in the 1st, and still 92-93 (touching 94) in the 5th/6th. Not sure all his pitches but a breaking ball that moved and fooled hitters. Not sure if he throws a change, but something was upper 80s and seemed right down the middle but the batters could not hit. He was also efficient. 5.2 IP, 75 pitches and his last batter was the only full count he had all day long, and that was his lone walk. He had back to back hits, but it was that throw by Vargas that kept the Lugnuts from scoring. Hardin had career highs for innings pitched and strikeouts. A pretty good outing for him. Definitely a pitcher who could move seeing as how his is at high A already, and could move to AA before season is over.

After starting 3-3, who would have guessed the T-Rats would have the worst record of the affiliated teams? Biloxi looked like they could not win for a bit, but have come back to life - I still think T-Rats can/will have a better record by year's end particularly if Burke can hit and they get some reinforcements from Carolina later in the year.

Solid night for the affiliates. Nice little winning streak for Biloxi (4 wins in last 5 games) as the offense has gone from non-existent to just barely having a pulse now which is pretty good for the offensively challenged Southern league as @Ro Muellerpointed out that no team in that league has a team OPS > .694. The team is still all singles and walks. Encouraging start for Coleman Crow who goes 3 IP (2 hitters into the 4th), and went 9 up and 9 down until a single and walk ended his night. Nate Petersen with a dominant relief outing preserving the win, and 8 Ks to boot. Yes more of the please!?! I didn't watch any of the Sounds, but EMJ with a bullet hit again. Tobias Myers with a very encouraging rehab start, but all was undone with a 9th inning come back by Charlotte. As was pointed out, can't get too upset with a walk off loss when the offense only puts up 1 run, that's asking a lot of the pitching staff, and for 8 innings they were up to it. Meanwhile the Muddies keep rolling. That is a relentless offense as was commented by @wibadgers23. And that offense can roll despite who is in the line up (with the unfortunate series of banged up players missing games), or who is hitting or not. Fillipo DiTuri has been huge in the early season, but last night was not his night, but's he's got plenty of games to make up for it 😉 Don't sleep on Sam Garcia. I was impressed with is first outing, and missed his second, and caught his last 3 inning last night. Fastball looks faster due to arm angle and his size (didn't realize he's listed at 6' 4"), and he is usually in command. While the outcome was not in question when I saw him, he did step into a tie game, and then pitched 4 innings, scattering 4 base runners. In fact his only real challenge was in the 9th when after 2 quick outs and nearing 60 pitches he gave up a single, then a 4 pitch walk. And while it is not big deal with a 9 run lead, he did get the last out with a big strike out. That may be a small footnote in the box score, but giving him the chance to close out and finish his job without giving up another run could be huge in his development. Who is Sam Garcia? He was an 8th round pick last year and per our own @Spencer Michaelis here was a scouting report coming out of college (Tweet from last July):

Gorgeous breaking ball by Childers, and that’s ball game. That is your 5-8 Biloxi Shuckers who earn at least a split and have the weekend to try to earn their first Series win. Solid game for Biloxi tonight

Childers in. And gives up a lead off single. Then a fly out. Let’s go Shuckers

Alright. Ask and I did receive. Although I did ask for insurance runs(plural) to be technical 😉

Wow. The hairy mammoth, large mammal, or “Dan” comes in to relieve Petersen and goes to alternate on base and out. Barons go double, fly out. Single, strike out. Single (and run scored), and huge strikeout on a 3-2 count. That’s huge. 3-1 Biloxi on to the 9th You know what would be nice - a few insurance runs here…..

I don't want to jinx Biloxi, so I am logging off for now. TRats look like it's still a rain delay. Will catch some of you back in a little bit.

I mean the outcome was never in doubt with a 10-1 lead. But young Sam Garcia comes out for the 4th inning of relief and gets a couple quick outs. Then a single and a walk. He comes back to strike out the next batter with a fastball that looked lively. That is a solid outing for this young man. I loved his first outing and hadn't watch much of him, but he is definitely pitching some big innings here - he came into a 1-1 game and pitched 2 inning* before the offense spotted him the 9 run lead. *EDIT: Garcia pitched 1 inning in a tie game and another inning with a 4-1 lead. He gets the win and still had to pitch a tough inning or two. And that offense: 9 hits, 9 walks and they force 5 errors en route to another double digit run scoring game. Wow

Oh no. Middendorf retires the first batter, then HBP, Then double to score the run. Then an IBB. And a single. Sounds lose 2-1 in the 9th. Ugh. Meanwhile Petersen goes 3up and 3down for Biloxi again wow. Sam Garcia trying to close it out for Mudcats. Gave up a 2 out hit, now a walk. Hes at 65 pitches. Gotta be his last batter I think, no need to push the pitch count beyond 70-75. Hope Sam gets the final out here.

Middendorf on in Charlotte to try to close it for Nashville who had bases loaded but could not score an insurance run or two. Bummer. Muddies up to bat in bottom of 8, with a huge lead and only 3 outs away from their 11th win. That is crazy. What a fun team so far Shuckers still battling in the 5th inning. Adams grounds out, and Miller then EBJ are due up. EBJ has looked very bad in the past few at bats I have watched of his.

Sam Garcia - I will have to watch him again. Big 3 innings of relief, 3 K, 1 BB, 1 H on 50 pitches and it's still 10-1 Muddies/ Talk about big relief - Petersen comes in and strikes out all 3 Barons he sees stranding 2 runners and Shuckers maintain the 3-0 lead. Huge inning there Nate!!

Yes, but tonight apparently everyone is relentless but DiTuri: 0-5 with 4 K. Well he is relentless tonight but in a different way 😂

After a four pitch walk, Crow is out. Good news his last fastball was 92.6, but the bad news is that curve maybe and his fastball were eluding him in the 4th inning. No outs, two runners on, as he approached 45 pitches. But a heckuva first start back for Crow. Nice job young man. Let's ease you back in. But I'll take 3+ innings as a great start. Nate Petersen is in to pitch.

For tonight that's how I see it 😉 But Wilken Ks. He is not swinging the bat. He is drawing walks, but King and just not swinging. Is he working on pitch recognition, or just unsure at the plate?? Adams is swinging more recently, and Wilken has taken the mantle from Luke I think. Meanwhile Muddies bust it wide open - it is now 9-1! Made singles with bases loaded, and the Garcia with a single and Dinges with a double. Back to Birmingham, first hit off Coleman Crow a single stretched into a double.

Well - TRats won't get anything going right now as GameDay says Rain Delay. I'm watching Biloxi and keeping tabs on Muddies for now.

Big spot for Pratt. He missed a double, lining it about 3 feet into foul territory, works a full count and a hard hit ball right at the 3B who nails Spain at the plate, rather easily. But they chase Schultz who was at about 80 pitches through 3.2 IP. That is a solid outing for the beleaguered offense. Although unless the TRats get something going, they will soon be the bottom dwellers of the organization.

Great single to RF for Lara, now 2-3 and Warren just beats the tag, 3-0 Shuckers. Now runners at 2nd & 3rd and only 1 out. This is against one of the top pitching prospects in baseball

Top of the 5th, and Noah Schulz - top prospect. He is at 65 pitches with 5 H and 5 BB allowed. That is almost like a slugfest for the Shuckers

I think he has a slider maybe and a change up - one is mid 80s and one is high 70s just going by the gun data. Batters are not seeing it or hitting it well.

Just curious which game are you watching?