Stars drop third straight to Braves

By Aaron Morse

The Huntsville Stars (22-23) couldn’t hold onto an early lead for the third consecutive game as they lost by a final score of 5-2 to the Mississippi Braves (23-22) Monday night.

The Stars got off to a fast start in the top of the first when Lorenzo Cain smacked his third triple of the season. Lee Haydel followed that up with a bloop single to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.

Stars starter Alex Periard (2-3) worked around a two-out triple and a walk in the bottom half of the first. The native of Quebec, Canada pitched his way out of trouble in every frame through the first four innings. His biggest challenge came in the bottom of the fourth when the Braves loaded the bases with only one away. But he got the Braves’ pitcher Erik Cordier to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam.

Huntsville would tack on an insurance run in the top of the fifth thanks to some clutch two-out hitting. Martin Maldonado started things off with a single to left. Periard bunted him over to second. After Cain drew a walk, Haydel flew-out to left. But that’s when Brett Lawrie came up big with a single up the middle to plate Maldonado.

The 2-0 lead would be extremely short-lived as Mauro Gomez smacked a three-run jack off Periard in the bottom of the 5th. That would be Periard’s final inning of work as he scattered seven hits, giving up three runs, two earned, while walking three and striking out two on the evening.

The Stars’ bullpen continued its recent struggles in the bottom of the 6th. Reliever Donovan Hand gave up a one-out double to Randy Gress. After he hit Cody Johnson, Alex Romero delivered a double to right to drive in Gress. One out later, Eric Duncan singled home Romero to extend the lead to 5-2.

Erik Cordier (3-3) tossed six innings to get the win, while Periard took the loss. Brett Butts worked a scoreless ninth for the save. With the defeat, the Stars dropped the series three games to two. Tennessee won Monday night so Huntsville is now five games back in the north division.

The Stars have a much-needed off day Tuesday before they host the Birmingham Barons for a five game series starting on Wednesday. The Stars took 4 of 5 from the Barons earlier this month. First pitch in the opener will be at 7pm Central Time on www.huntsvillestars.com.