Playoff Bound: Blue Wahoos rally late to seal division win, gain playoff berth

Nine months after winning a Southern League championship in Tennessee, the Blue Wahoos returned and celebrated the chance for another.

Troy Johnston ripped a two-out, two-run triple in the ninth inning and reliever Jefry Yan overcame a leadoff walk, striking out the final batter as the Blue Wahoos rallied to beat the Tennessee Smokies 3-1 Wednesday in Kodak, Tennessee to clinch the first half South Division win, thus gaining the spot in post-season.

“What a game,” said Blue Wahoos manager Kevin Randel amid a celebration in the visitors’ clubhouse at Smokies Stadium. “It’s always good (to get a playoff spot). Obviously titles are nice, first half wins are nice. (Wednesday) it felt like we were chasing them all night even thought the game was tight. Pitching was outstanding.”

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The Blue Wahoos trailed 1-0 into the eighth inning, before catcher Will Banfield tied the game with a home run. That was followed by the two-run ninth.

The Blue Wahoos clinched their seventh playoff appearance in the last eight playing seasons (excluding 2020 when all Minor League Baseball was cancelled due to the coronavirus). They’ve done it with three different affiliations.

They won their first outright league title in the team’s 10th anniversary season in 2022 by coming back from a first-game loss against the Smokies in Pensacola to win twice on this field at Smokies Stadium to take the championship series on September 28.

Wednesday night, Yan struck out pinch-hitter Nelson Maldonado on a wicked breaking pitch, leaped in the air and twirled in a dance as teammates joined him in the joyful scene.

Yan’s relief effort capped an outstanding night of pitching as the Blue Wahoos ended a four-game losing streak with their biggest win so far this season.

The Blue Wahoos needed just one win this week to clinch the first half South Division, or have the other three teams in the division -- Biloxi, Mississippi and Montgomery lose a game. Biloxi twice rallied on Tuesday and Wednesday to keep their hopes alive. Mississippi was eliminated with a loss Tuesday and Montgomery had both of its first two games this week rained out.

The Blue Wahoos held tie-breaker advantages against both the M-Braves and Montgomery Biscuits.

Blue Wahoos starter Evan Fitterer went five innings in a duel against the Smokies Jordan Wicks – one of the Chicago Cubs' top rated prospects. He gave up a second inning homer to Smokies catcher Pablo Aliendo, but retired the last seven batters he faced.

That homer was the only hit Fitterer allowed in matching one of his best performances this season. He struck out eight batters and walked three in his outing.

From that point, the Blue Wahoos bullpen was near-perfect. Cristian Charle pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit, them Matt Pushard, who just joined the team from the Beloit Sky Carp, the Miami Marlins High-A affiliate, earned the win with a clean eighth inning.

Pushard’s performance followed Will Banfield tying the game in the top of the eighth with a line drive homer over the left field wall.

After missing prior opportunities in the game to get more runs, the Blue Wahoos (38-26) took advantage of two walks by Cody Morissette and Bennett Hostetler. After J.D. Orr struck out, after first missing two chances at a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch by Smokies reliever Cayne Ueckert with Nasim Nuñez batting moved the runners over.

Ueckert then struck out Nuñez, but on a 1-0 pitch to Johnston, it was rifled down the first base line off the glove of Haydn McGeary – ruled a two-run triple as it went down the right field line.

“It was a huge sigh of relief,” Randel said. “Troy was coming up with big spots all game, he wasn’t feeling great at the plate, but he got a pitch he put a really good swing on it. It was a big triple for him.”

A year ago, the Blue Wahoos won the first half with Eury Pérez as the ace in the rotation and strong starting pitching throughout. This half season, Pérez was a big part of the first month success, but his elevation to the Marlins, along with an injury to Dax Fulton and top closer Sean Reynolds called up to Triple-A changed the team in the final weeks.

“Our pitching is still holding up pretty good,” Randel said. “Our offense had been in a little bit of rut lately, but obviously something like this to pull it out keeps us rolling.”

The Smokies (35-29), the Chicago Cubs affiliate, are battling the Chattanooga Lookouts for first place in the North Division. The Lookouts dropped their first two games against Biloxi this week and the standings are now tied in that division.

The Blue Wahoos will continue this two-week road trip with a double-header Thursday beginning at 4:30 p.m. CT at Smokies Stadium, following Tuesday night’s rainout.

The next Blue Wahoos home game will be the Fourth of July in a special 4 p.m. game that day against Biloxi to begin a six-game series at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

First pitch Thursday from Smokies Stadium is scheduled for 4:30 CT on Tuesday, with a live broadcast beginning at 4:25 on BlueWahoos.com, the MiLB First Pitch app (radio), Bally Live and MiLB.tv (video). For more information, visit BlueWahoos.com or contact the box office at (850) 934-8444.

The series will continue through Sunday, which officially ends the first half schedule. All teams in the league will have June 26-27 off before starting the second half on June 28. The Blue Wahoos will begin their second half schedule on the road in Montgomery.

Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Blue Wahoos first-half division title following comeback win