that’s gotta hurt

It’ll be interesting to see how the Mississippi Braves bounce back from Thursday’s jolting defeat. First place in the Southern League South was in their grasp, but the M-Braves could not hold it, fumbling away a four-run lead in the 10th inning at Jacksonville. With four games left in the regular season, the M-Braves (35-30) remain a half-game back of first-place Pensacola, which also lost on Thursday. The second-half champ will play first-half winner Biloxi in the division series. The M-Braves showed some grit against the Suns. Lucas Sims threw seven strong innings. Rio Ruiz hit a home run. Kevin Ahrens’ two-out hit in the ninth tied the score 2-2. Big hits by Matt Lipka and Emerson Landoni helped the M-Braves bolt ahead 6-2 in the top of the 10th. Tyler Jones, who has a team-best 16 saves and entered with a sub-3.00 ERA, was summoned to close it out. Two walks, two hits and two runs later, he was out of the game. Jorge Reyes came on, fell behind 2-0 to SL All-Star David Adams and then surrendered a game-ending three-run homer. Ouch. Game 2 of the five-game series is tonight. P.S. Former Mississippi State star Tyler Moore returned from the disabled list and went 1-for-2 as Washington, chasing an MLB postseason berth, demolished Atlanta 15-1. Meridian Community College product Corey Dickerson is 3-for-9 in two Triple-A rehab games and could return to Colorado’s active roster soon. Ex-Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton, on the DL with a shoulder injury, is throwing and may start a rehab assignment this weekend for Cincinnati.