‘Cakes pull away with late homer outburst to down Redbirds

METAIRIE – The New Orleans Baby Cakes hit three two-run homers in the seventh inning to pull away from the Memphis Redbirds, 10-3 on Thursday night.

Chad Wallach, Jon Rodriguez and Eric Campbell all went deep off Redbirds reliever Hector Mendoza as the ‘Cakes stretched a one-run lead into a seven-run cushion. Wallach had earlier doubled in the go-ahead run in the fifth, the second time New Orleans came from behind to take the lead.

Memphis struck early with three straight singles in the first inning against Ben Meyer to go ahead 1-0. The Baby Cakes answered with two runs in the second, capitalizing on a pair of walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch, only for Memphis to score two unearned runs in the third to jump back in front.

Facing Dakota Hudson, who entered the game leading the Pacific Coast League with six wins and a 2.30 ERA, the ‘Cakes strung together four consecutive two-out hits in the fifth to regain the lead for good. Tomas Telis started the uprising with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and narrowly beat the throw home on a single to right by Rafael Ortega to knot the score.

Ortega then raced around the bases on Wallach’s double to give the ‘Cakes a 4-3 lead, and Cristhian Adames followed with one of his three singles on the night before Memphis turned to Mendoza to squash the rally.

Meyer (3-4) bounced back from two rocky outings to earn the win by limiting the Redbirds to one earned run in 6 1/3 innings. He scattered nine hits, walked one and struck out four. Memphis threatened in the seventh to knock Meyer from the game, but Jumbo Diaz worked out of a bases loaded jam with a fly out to shallow left and a strikeout of Alex Mejia to preserve the one-run advantage.

Hudson took his second loss after allowing four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The five-game series continues on Friday at 7 p.m.