big league chew

Of the three Mississippi high school products on the field Friday at Atlanta’s SunTrust Park, it was Spencer Turnbull who took the star turn. The Madison Central alum, the starting pitcher for Detroit, shackled the Braves on five hits and allowed just one earned run in six-plus innings in the Tigers’ 8-2 win. Richton High’s JaCoby Jones, the Tigers’ center fielder, continued his recent surge at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a triple, a walk and a run. DeSoto Central’s Austin Riley, the Braves’ left fielder, was 0-for-3 with a walk. Overshadowed on this night by Nico Goodrum’s 5-for-5, two-homer performance, Turnbull’s effort was also significant. Braves TV broadcasters raved about his stuff. The rookie right-hander earned his first win since April 30, though he had not pitched poorly in May. He is now 3-4 with a 2.94 ERA for a struggling team. Jones’ triple was his first of the season, and he is now batting .221, up some 50 points over the last week. … Hunter Renfroe, the former Copiah Academy and Mississippi State star, hit his 15th home run of the season for San Diego, helping set the MLB record for homers in month at 1,135. … Also going deep on Friday was former Biloxi Shuckers star Keston Hiura, a recent call-up by Milwaukee who is batting .296 with four bombs in 15 games. Hiura appears to have nailed down a role with the Brewers. … The tough times continued for ex-Ole Miss standout Drew Pomeranz, who gave up six runs in the first inning against Baltimore, eight runs in 1 1/3 innings all told and fell to 1-6 with an 8.08 ERA for San Francisco. After winning a ring with Boston last year, when he also had lackluster results, Pomeranz signed as a free agent with the Giants.