Entering Tuesday night’s action, the Birmingham Barons and Rocket City Trash Pandas were tied for the top record in the Double-A South North Division. However, thanks to a stellar pitching performance from Emilio Vargas, the Barons have now taken a one-game lead over Rocket City with eleven games left in the regular season.
Vargas pitched six full innings without allowing a single earned run, despite allowing the Trash Pandas to rack up six hits. Whenever the 25-year old right-hander found himself in a jam, he managed to work himself out of it. That masterful pitching would help lead Birmingham to a 3-0 shutout victory over Rocket City.
To lead off the first inning, Vargas immediately allowed a base hit to Pandas left fielder Luis Aviles Jr. In the next at-bat, he gave up another hit to first baseman David MacKinnon. Despite the rough start to the inning, Vargas would effortlessly retire his next three batters via two pop outs and a strikeout.
In the bottom of the first frame, Birmingham’s offense would give Vargas some much needed run support. To lead off the frame, Carlos Perez singled to left field. Jameson Fisher would hit a double to left field in the very next at-bat, and to close out the inning, Perez would score on a sacrifice fly from Xavier Fernandez to give the Barons a 1-0 lead.
Birmingham appeared to be in trouble in the top of the third. Vargas began the inning by giving up another base hit to Luis Aviles Jr., and then threw a wild pitch to Pandas third baseman Mitch Nay in the next at-bat, which allowed Aviles Jr. to advance to second base. Nay would then hit a double to deep center field, giving Aviles a chance to run in from second base and tie the score at 1-1.
However, in one of the craziest plays of the game, Yoelqui Cespedes would make a perfect throw to second baseman Mitch Roman from deep center field. Roman threw home to catcher Carlos Perez, who was able to tag Aviles Jr. out at the plate and preserve Birmingham’s 1-0 lead.
From this point forward, Vargas was pretty much perfect on the mound. He would close out the third inning by striking out Orlando Martinez and forcing David MacKinnon into a groundout. He quickly retired all three batters that he faced in the fourth inning, and struck out all three batters that he faced in the fifth.
A two-run homer from Carlos Perez would extend Birmingham’s lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth, allowing both Emilio Vargas and the Barons fanbase to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Vargas would go on to strike out two more batters in the top of the sixth, and Barons reliever Zach Muckerhirn would take his place for the next two innings.
Muckenhirn pitched the seventh and eighth innings without allowing a single run, and recorded his fourth hold of the season. Caleb Freeman would shut out the top of the ninth to record his second save of the season and close out an important 3-0 victory for Birmingham.
Emilio Vargas earned his seventh win of the season for Birmingham, and now boasts an impressive 7-3 record on the mound across 14 starts. His ERA stands at 2.52, which is the lowest ERA he has thrown for since 2014.
With the season winding down and a playoff spot on the line, the Barons need every win they can get.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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Wait, a playoff spot? There’s playoffs in the minors this year?