On August 1, the Birmingham Barons closed out one of their most impressive road trips of the season with an emphatic 9-5 win over the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
The Barons finished the 12-game trip with a 8-4 record, and looked to carry this strong momentum into their upcoming 11-game homestand, which would begin on August 3rd versus the Mississippi Braves.
Despite Birmingham winning two of the first three games versus Mississippi, the Braves would go on to dominate the remaining three games of the series. Across the first three games, the Barons outscored the Braves 12-9, but in the final three games, Mississippi would outscore Birmingham 18-2.
The Barons’ offense struggled versus Mississippi’s pitchers for the majority of the series. However, Ian Dawkins finished 8-for-19 (.421) at the plate in five games against the Braves, while Romy Gonzalez would also make a strong contribution, batting 7-for-24 (.291) in six games.
Dawkins, who was called up to Birmingham from the High-A Winston-Salem Dash on July 21st, had his best performance of the series on August 8. The 26-year-old outfielder finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two stolen bases. Romy Gonzalez’s best performance came in the opening game of the series on August 3, where he batted 3-for-4 and finished with one home run and one RBI.
Birmingham’s offense struggled in this series, but the pitching staff wasn’t much better. In game one of the series, Blake Battenfield started and allowed five earned runs and eight hits in five innings of pitching. The Barons would go on to lose 7-4.
In game two, Kade McClure started on the mound and struck out seven batters in six innings. He wouldn’t allow a single earned run, and the Barons would go on to win 1-0 in extra innings. Relievers Zach Muckenhirn, Anderson Severino, and Felix Paulino were also key in the victory.
Emilio Vargas would shine in game three of the series, striking out twelve batters in five innings while only allowing one hit. Relievers Peter Tago and Alec Hansen would combine for six strikeouts of their own, and the Barons would win their second game of the series by a score of 7-2.
Birmingham’s next three games couldn’t have gone worse. In game four, starter Jason Bilous allowed three earned runs, Andrew Perez allowed two, Jake Elliot allowed three, and Luis Ledo allowed four in the Barons’ ugly 12-0 loss. Game five was a slight improvement, as starter Taylor Varnell would allow only one earned run in a 1-0 loss, but in game six, Davis Martin would allow four earned runs across the first two innings in an ugly 5-2 loss.
Birmingham lost four of six contests versus the Braves, but still had five games left to turn this homestand around.
On August 10th, the Barons kicked off the second half of their 11-game homestand against the Chattanooga Lookouts, who entered this series with the second-best record in the Double-A South North Division, trailing the top-seeded Barons by only two games.
The Barons came out strong versus the Lookouts, winning games one and two of the series 4-3 and 7-1 respectively. Chattanooga would win game three by a score of 7-3, but Birmingham would have the last laugh in this series, winning games four and five to finish their 11-game homestand with a passable 6-5 record.
Once again, Romy Gonzalez would lead the Barons’ offense. Gonzalez finished 6-for-18 (.333) at the plate in five games versus Chattanooga. However, the real star of this series was Jameson Fisher, who batted 7-for-14 (.500) in four games, and had the most impressive game of his career versus the Lookouts on August 13th.
On August 13th, not only did Fisher finish 3-for-3 at the plate… but each of these three hits were home runs. The Barons would go on to win 6-5, thanks to well-timed homers from Fisher in the first, sixth, and eighth innings of Friday’s action.
In regards to the Barons’ pitching versus the Lookouts, no players stood out like Vargas and McClure did against the Braves.
Starters Jason Bilous and Taylor Varnell both had rough performances in games three and four of this series though. Bilous pitched 3.1 innings and allowed six earned runs in the game three loss, and Varnell allowed five earned runs in five innings to begin game four.
J.B. Olson also recorded a very interesting statistic in the opening game of this series: He recorded the win, but also recorded a blown save. Regardless, Olson got his win, Luis Ledo recorded the save, and Alec Hansen earned the hold.
Emilio Vargas would record his sixth win of the season in game two, Blake Battenfield would earn the win in game four as a reliever, and Luis Ledo would earn the win in game five.
The Barons appear to be trending in the right direction. The team found its groove again versus Chattanooga after losing three consecutive contests to the Braves. Across this homestand, Birmingham’s hitting and pitching were a bit streaky, but considering the fact that they are still sitting at number one in their division with a 3.5 game lead over the second-place Rocket City Trash Pandas, I don’t think there is much reason for concern.
With this homestand in the books, Birmingham (47-40) is headed to Kodak, Tennessee to play a seven-game series against the Tennessee Smokies (38-48). Game one will take place on Tuesday, August 17th at 6:00 pm CT.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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