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For nearly 15 minutes on Opening Day, the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp commemorated their Triple-A baseball championship for 2025.
For the next hour and a half, they played like a team ready to challenge for a repeat.
And after that? A painful reminder that 2026 is a whole new season.
The Jumbo Shrimp rang in their new year in celebration March 27 but couldn't hold an early four-run lead, going down to the Rochester Red Wings 8-7 in a Friday night walk-fest of an Opening Day for the International League season.
The 10th walk from Jacksonville pitchers was the killer, issued by William Kempner to Rochester's Yohandy Morales in the ninth and scoring Abimelec Ortiz to break a 7-7 tie. The Jumbo Shrimp subsequently failed to convert a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the bottom of the frame.
Much remained the same: Six months after winning the franchise's first-ever Triple-A championship in Las Vegas, Robby Snelling showed once more why he's a top-two prospect in the Miami Marlins' organization and Deyvison De Los Santos crushed a home run that nearly left the confines of VyStar Ballpark.
But Jacksonville's relief corps, a cornerstone of the championship season, struggled in its debut. A 5-1 Jumbo Shrimp lead dissolved in a nightmare sixth inning, with five Red Wing runs against reliever Jake Walkinshaw, and Jacksonville relievers issued nine of the team's walks. Jack Ralston (0-1) took the loss.
Before the bullpen's woes, Snelling delivered an ace-worthy performance to begin his second year in Jacksonville.
Snelling limited the Red Wings to one hit over four innings, striking out three. His only run allowed came in the second when Ortiz doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on another groundout.
Dominant pitching has become par for the course for Snelling, who recorded a 1.27 ERA and 0.99 WHIP during his 2025 campaign in Jacksonville.
De Los Santos, two years removed from a 40-homer, 120-RBI season, again displayed his prodigious power with a 112-mph, 404-foot blast in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead.
Then, after Rochester had moved in front 7-5, Nathan Martorella tied the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh.
But after two Rochester walks (the ninth and tenth from visiting pitchers) and a fielding error loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Jumbo Shrimp somehow came away empty-handed. Jackson Rutledge forced Martorella to pop up to shortstop, and Jared Serna's sharp ground ball down the line ended in a 5-2 double play turned by Red Wings third baseman Morales.
The Jumbo Shrimp return to action 6:35 p.m. March 28, with Bradley Blalock scheduled to start against Rochester's Mitchell Parker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp-Rochester Red Wings, Opening Day score
Continue reading...
For the next hour and a half, they played like a team ready to challenge for a repeat.
And after that? A painful reminder that 2026 is a whole new season.
The Jumbo Shrimp rang in their new year in celebration March 27 but couldn't hold an early four-run lead, going down to the Rochester Red Wings 8-7 in a Friday night walk-fest of an Opening Day for the International League season.
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The 10th walk from Jacksonville pitchers was the killer, issued by William Kempner to Rochester's Yohandy Morales in the ninth and scoring Abimelec Ortiz to break a 7-7 tie. The Jumbo Shrimp subsequently failed to convert a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the bottom of the frame.
Much remained the same: Six months after winning the franchise's first-ever Triple-A championship in Las Vegas, Robby Snelling showed once more why he's a top-two prospect in the Miami Marlins' organization and Deyvison De Los Santos crushed a home run that nearly left the confines of VyStar Ballpark.
But Jacksonville's relief corps, a cornerstone of the championship season, struggled in its debut. A 5-1 Jumbo Shrimp lead dissolved in a nightmare sixth inning, with five Red Wing runs against reliever Jake Walkinshaw, and Jacksonville relievers issued nine of the team's walks. Jack Ralston (0-1) took the loss.
SNELLING STARS FOR JACKSONVILLE
Before the bullpen's woes, Snelling delivered an ace-worthy performance to begin his second year in Jacksonville.
Snelling limited the Red Wings to one hit over four innings, striking out three. His only run allowed came in the second when Ortiz doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on another groundout.
Dominant pitching has become par for the course for Snelling, who recorded a 1.27 ERA and 0.99 WHIP during his 2025 campaign in Jacksonville.
De Los Santos, two years removed from a 40-homer, 120-RBI season, again displayed his prodigious power with a 112-mph, 404-foot blast in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead.
Then, after Rochester had moved in front 7-5, Nathan Martorella tied the game with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh.
But after two Rochester walks (the ninth and tenth from visiting pitchers) and a fielding error loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Jumbo Shrimp somehow came away empty-handed. Jackson Rutledge forced Martorella to pop up to shortstop, and Jared Serna's sharp ground ball down the line ended in a 5-2 double play turned by Red Wings third baseman Morales.
The Jumbo Shrimp return to action 6:35 p.m. March 28, with Bradley Blalock scheduled to start against Rochester's Mitchell Parker.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp-Rochester Red Wings, Opening Day score
Continue reading...
