Galloway’s homer propels ‘Cakes past Dodgers

METAIRIE – Dillon Peters pitched seven strong innings and Isaac Galloway hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning to lead the New Orleans Baby Cakes past the Oklahoma City Dodgers, 4-2 on Friday night.

After allowing first-inning runs in three of the four games against Iowa, the Baby Cakes flipped the script by stringing together a two-out rally in the opening frame. A walk to Garrett Cooper was followed by singles from Galloway and Cristhian Adames to put the ‘Cakes in front, 1-0.

Peters nursed the one-run lead into the fifth, when Travis Taijeron led off with a single. Back-to-back strikeouts appeared to have Peters primed to put up another zero, but opposing pitcher Daniel Corcino laced a double to the wall in right field, scoring Taijeron with the tying run.

Galloway responded in the bottom of the inning with his seventh home run of the year, and second in his last three games, putting New Orleans back in front.

An inning later, Peters helped his cause by chopping a single past a drawn-in infield to score Jon Rodriguez, who had led off with a walk. 

Peters (2-4) retired the first nine batters he faced and finished with five strikeouts and no walks. Taijeron homered to right to lead off the seventh, but Peters recorded a strikeout to end the inning, marking the second time in three starts he logged seven innings to equal his season high. The left-hander owns a 2.10 ERA in four starts at home.

Javy Guerra worked around a leadoff double in the eighth and fanned the final five batters of the game to record his fifth save. Guerra has not allowed a run in his last 22 innings with New Orleans dating back to last season.

Corcino (2-1) took the loss, allowing three runs and five hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked four.

Oklahoma City has dropped six in a row heading into Saturday’s doubleheader, with game one scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.