With one out and the score tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, a walk-off home run from White Sox No. 6 prospect Micker Adolfo lifted the Birmingham Barons to a dramatic 7-6 comeback victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Wednesday night. This walk-off win ended a streak of six consecutive losses for Birmingham.
The Barons, who hadn’t won a game since June 15th versus the Mississippi Braves, found themselves down 5-0 after just three innings. However, in the bottom of the fourth, Birmingham received a much needed spark from first baseman Jameson Fisher, who would triple on a ground ball to right field and drive in two runs for the Barons.
Following Fisher’s triple, second baseman Laz Rivera stepped to the plate and blasted in a two-run homer to cut the Blue Wahoos’ lead to 5-4 entering the fifth inning. Birmingham would carry this strong momentum into the seventh, where both Zach Granite and Joel Booker would score to give the Barons a 6-5 advantage.
With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth, Micker Adolfo stepped to the plate for Birmingham and crushed a solo home run to right center field for the win. The homer was Adolfo’s third of the series versus Pensacola.
Adolfo’s walk-off homer put the cherry on top of this Barons rally, but Fisher also played a large role in the victory, finishing 3-for-4 at the plate with a single, double, and triple. The only other Baron to record multiple hits was Rivera, who went 2-for-4.
This was a much-needed win for a Barons club that is now 4-10 across their previous 14 outings. However, Birmingham wouldn’t have needed to recover from a 5-run deficit if their pitching staff had gotten off to a better start.
Right-hander Blake Battenfield started on the mound for Birmingham and pitched three innings. In the first inning alone, Battenfield gave up three hits, three runs, and hit Jerar Encarnacion with a pitch. He would then give up three more hits and two more runs across the next two innings, dropping the Barons into a 5-0 hole.
Four more Barons pitchers would take the mound across the next six innings. Most notably, Peter Tago recorded five strikeouts in three innings while only allowing one hit. Left-handers Anderson Severino and Andrew Perez would each pitch for one inning, combining for two strikeouts and allowed zero hits.
Birmingham improves to 24-19 with the win, and will play the third game of this home series vs the Blue Wahoos on Thursday at 7:05 PM CT.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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