Huntsville Stars Rally Past Jacksonville Suns 5-4 - AA, Southern League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – Jacksonville starter Clayton Kershaw pitched six shutout innings before the Huntsville Stars (14-8) scored five unanswered runs in the final two innings, completing a Friday night comeback for a 5-4 victory over the Jacksonville Suns (10-12) in front of 2,517 at Joe Davis Stadium.
 
Patrick Ryan (1-0) picked up the relief win for Huntsville after two shutout innings. Brian Akin (1-2) fell in the loss for Jacksonville, giving up an unearned run after two errors in the ninth inning.
 
For the fifth time in 2008 Suns starter Clayton Kershaw pitched extremely well, pitching six shutout innings with only two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts.
 

ADVERTISEMENT After leaving five runners on base in the first two innings, Jacksonville opened the scoring in the third inning against Stars starter Derek Miller when Andy LaRoche scored on an error by Huntsville second baseman Michael Bell for a 1-0 lead.
 
Miller left after five innings with one unearned run, eight hits, four walks and three strikeouts. In the first five innings, Jacksonville left 11 runners on base, eight in scoring position.
 
Jacksonville added to the lead against reliever E.J. Shanks in the sixth inning when a Lucas May double scored Ivan DeJesus, Jr. for a 2-0 lead. The Suns scored twice more against Shanks in the eighth inning, when an Ivan DeJesus, Jr. double score both Bobby Malek and James Tomlin for a 4-0 lead.
 
Suns reliever Tanyon Sturtze, who joined the Jacksonville roster prior to the game from the Dodgers extended spring program, pitched behind Kershaw, putting the side down in order during the seventh inning. The Stars offense heated up against the veteran right-hander in the eighth inning, as four of the first five batters had hits including an Alcides Escobar RBI single and Mat Gamel two-run double to cut the Suns lead to 4-3. Chris Errecart later singled home Gamel to tie the game 4-4.
 
Brian Akin entered the game in the ninth for Jacksonville, but an Ivan DeJesus, Jr. throwing error to start the inning allowed Freddy Parejo to reach first base. After a sacrifice bunt pushed Parejo to second and a ground out moved him to third, Akin intentionally walked Michael Brantley. With two out Alcides Escobar grounded to third base, where Shane Justis had entered in place of Andy LaRoche earlier, and a Justis throwing error allowed Parejo to score to end the game 5-4.

The Suns and Stars continue the series Saturday at 3:05 p.m. ET. Suns LH Marlon Arias will face Stars LH David Welch. A live web stream is available at jaxsuns.com.

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