home cooking

The Mississippi Braves are surging. Sorta. Having limped in last Saturday after a rough road trip, the M-Braves have won five of six during the current homestand. But … they’ve gained no ground in the Southern League South during this stretch. At 23-18, the M-Braves are 3 games behind Jacksonville, which has displaced Mobile at the top of the standings. Still, Thursday’s 7-4 win over Mobile was significant. The BayBears, first-half champs in the division, took a series at Trustmark Park in mid-July, winning three straight after dropping the first two. In the opener of the new series on Thursday, the M-Braves got home runs — a rarity at the TeePee — from Cedric Hunter and Rich Poythress and some nice pitching — a regular occurrence — from J.R. Graham and Jason Hursh. Hunter, a one-time big leaguer, leads the M-Braves with 12 bombs. Poythress, the big first baseman signed recently to replace injured slugger Seth Loman, hit his first homer with the club. Graham, still on the mend from arm issues, threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Hursh, who worked six strong to get the win. The 2013 first-round pick by Atlanta out of Oklahoma State is now 10-6 with a 3.56 ERA. His future looks bright. P.S. Philadelphia did make a move on Thursday with ex-Meridian Community College star Cliff Lee. The Phillies put the veteran left-hander back on the disabled list after he experienced elbow discomfort during his start against Washington. Lee only recently returned from a two-month stint on the DL with the same problem. The chances he might be traded now look rather slim. In fact, his season may be over.