After winning four of five games versus the Chattanooga Lookouts in their most recent homestand, the Birmingham Barons hit the road on August 17th for a seven-game series against the last place team in the Double-A South North Division, the Tennessee Smokies.
Although the Smokies may be the worst team in their division, they didn’t play like it in this series. Tennessee would defeat Birmingham in four of seven contests, despite the Barons entering the series with the top record in the North Division.
Despite losing four of seven games in this series, the Barons would receive strong offensive contributions from many different players. However, nobody swung the bat better than White Sox No. 16 prospect Yolbert Sanchez.
The 24-year old shortstop would hit 10-for-23 (.434) versus the Smokies, while also adding three home runs and five RBIs. Sanchez recorded at least one hit in every game of the series, and finished with multiple hits in three of seven games.
Sanchez is a top prospect, but isn’t known as a power hitter. In his first 19 games with the Barons, he didn’t hit a single home run, and only recorded two doubles. However, after hitting three homers in this series, Sanchez’s slugging percentage has skyrocketed from .382 to .485, and we will see if he can keep up his strong hitting throughout the remainder of the season.
Yoelqui Cespedes also made a strong contribution for the Barons this week. The 23-year old outfielder was assigned to Birmingham from the High-A Winston Salem Dash on August 17th, and in six games versus the Smokies, he finished 9-for-25 (.360) at the plate with two RBIs. Xavier Fernandez also shined, batting 8-for-18 (.444) across six games while drawing four walks.
To say the least, it was an up-and-down week for the Barons’ pitching staff. It was a particularly bad week for Birmingham’s starting pitchers, as not a single one of them would record a win for the entire series.
Reliever Luis Ledo earned a win on August 19th, as the Barons would take down the Smokies by a score of 6-5. Ledo would pitch 1.2 innings without allowing a single earned run, while also striking out two batters.
J.B. Olson would earn a win two days later when the Barons defeated the Smokies 2-1. Olson pitched two innings and allowed only two hits and one earned run.
Birmingham’s third and final winning pitcher of the series was Zach Muckenhirn, who shut out two innings and only allowed one hit in a 4-3 Barons victory on August 22nd.
Blake Battenfield, who started in game four of the series, allowed nine hits and three earned runs across five innings, as the Barons would go on the lose 3-2. Jason Bilous started in game six, and allowed three earned runs of his own. Thankfully for Bilous, Birmingham would rally and win 4-3.
The most atrocious pitching performance of the week came from Alec Hansen, who allowed four earned runs in 0.0 innings of pitching. Yes, you read that correctly. Hansen would throw 16 pitches without recording a single out, allowing four runs to score in one inning. The Barons would ultimately fall by a score of 6-4.
While Alec Hansen had a bad week, Anderson Severino had a spectacular week. The 26-year old left-hander recorded two saves, allowing only two earned runs and three hits in the process.
Reliever Peter Tago also impressed. Tago would pitch three shutout innings in game two of the series, despite the Barons losing 5-1. He would pitch one inning in the penultimate game of the series, striking out all three batters he faced.
This Barons-Smokies series certainly had its highs and lows. Seeing Yolbert Sanchez continue to thrive at the Double-A level has been a real treat, but if Birmingham’s pitching staff could be more consistent, it would certainly result in more wins.
Despite losing this series, the Barons still hold the top seed in the competitive Double-A South North Division. Birmingham enters their next series with a 51-44 record, and will look to get back on track versus their in-state rival Montgomery Biscuits, who also boast a record of 51-44.
Birmingham will open this six-game series at Regions Field on August 24th at 7:05 PM CT.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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