Mooney’s bomb helps ‘Cakes to series win

METAIRIE – Peter Mooney homered for the second straight game, and six different players drove in runs on Sunday afternoon as the New Orleans Baby Cakes edged the Iowa Cubs, 7-6.

The ‘Cakes took three of four games in the series and have won seven of their last eight overall.

Jason Vosler’s two-run homer in the top of the first gave Iowa an early advantage, but Peter O’Brien went deep leading off the bottom of the second, and the ‘Cakes drew even on Austin Dean’s two-out RBI double in the third, scoring pitcher Tyler Cloyd all the way from first base.

Iowa used the long ball to go back in front in the fourth on solo shots from Ryan Court and Mark Zagunis, only for the ‘Cakes to answer with three runs in the bottom half. Mooney led off the frame with the first of four consecutive singles, with Austin Nola and Chris Diaz driving in runs to tie the score before Cloyd’s fielder’s choice put New Orleans ahead to stay.

After Dean drew a leadoff walk in the fifth, Mooney slugged his sixth home run of the year – all since the All-Star break and extending his career high – to stretch the Baby Cakes’ lead to 7-4. Mooney is batting .320 with 24 RBI over his last 31 games.

Cloyd (4-4) battled through five innings, allowing three home runs among his four hits before turning the game over to Odrisamer Despaigne, who gave up one hit over the next three innings. Bidding to become the first New Orleans reliever to earn a four-out save since J.D. Arteaga in 2002, Despaigne was hit in the hand by a Zagunis line drive on the first pitch of the ninth and exited the game.

Taylor Davis greeted Tyler Kinley with a home run, the Cubs’ fourth of the day, to bring Iowa within a run. But Kinley recovered to strike out each of the next three batters to earn his seventh save.

Alec Mills (5-12) gave up seven runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings and is now tied with teammate Jen-Ho Tseng for the league lead with 12 losses.

The Baby Cakes travel to Memphis to face the first-place Redbirds on Monday at 6:35 p.m., the first of a seven-game road trip.