time to shine

Some games in the minors simply matter more than others. Performance in those games is magnified. With first place in the Southern League South on the line Wednesday night, Cody Reed pitched like an ace for Pensacola. The Northwest Mississippi Community College product from Horn Lake threw six innings, allowing one run and punching out eight, as the Blue Wahoos topped the visiting Mississippi Braves 3-1. The Wahoos (33-26) climbed a half-game ahead of the M-Braves (32-26) in the battle for the second-half title in the SL South. “I love having that pressure of being the guy they give the ball to,” Reed said in a story on the team’s web site. Reed’s star is surely rising in the Cincinnati organization. The bespectacled, 6-foot-5 left-hander, acquired from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto deal, is 4-2 with a 3.03 ERA in six starts for the Wahoos. He was 2-2, 3.45 at Double-A Northwest Arkansas and 5-5, 2.14 in A-ball in the Royals’ system. The lone run the M-Braves scored was knocked in by Rio Ruiz, who is finally beginning to play like the prospect Atlanta thought it was getting from Houston in the Evan Gattis trade. Ruiz has an 11-game hit streak and is batting .368 with a homer, five RBIs and six runs in his last 10 games. For the year, his first in Double-A, the lefty-hitting third baseman is at .232 with three homers and 38 RBIs. In the finale of the Pensacola series tonight, the M-Braves send Greg Ross (7-9, 3.59) to the bump. More games that matter are ahead: Mississippi comes home on Friday for a series against Biloxi, the first-half champ in the SL South.