After batting a combined 1-for-8 in his previous two outings, a strong offensive performance from shortstop Romy Gonzalez helped lead the Birmingham Barons to a 5-4 victory over the Montgomery Biscuits on Sunday. The Barons have now won consecutive games after losing three in a row.
Birmingham fell behind 2-0 after the top half of the first inning, but a solo home run from Gonzalez would cut the Barons’ deficit to 2-1 entering the second.
This homer by Gonzalez appeared to spark the Barons offense, as Birmingham would go on to score two more runs on four hits across the next two innings. Left fielder Craig Dedelow stole home in the second inning to tie the score at 2-2 and first baseman Ti’Quan Forbes launched a solo home run of his own in the third to give the Barons a 3-2 lead.
The Barons wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game, thanks in large part to Birmingham’s pitchers limiting the Biscuits’ offense.
In his second start of the season, right-hander Emilio Vargas struck out five batters across the first four innings, and allowed three runs on three hits. Vargas could have pitched deeper into this contest, but Birmingham’s defense accumulated three errors in the first four innings alone, inflating Vargas’ pitch count to 70.
Left-hander Ofreidy Gomez, who recorded the win for the Barons, pitched the next three innings, striking out four batters and allowed only two hits.
Across Ofreidy’s three innings pitched, Birmingham would score twice more. Dedelow would send Gonzalez home with an RBI in the fifth inning, and Mitch Roman stole home in the sixth inning to extend the Barons lead to 5-3.
Heading to the ninth inning, Barons left-hander Bennett Sousa wanted to end this game. So he did.
Sousa masterfully closed out the inning for the Barons by striking out the side, sealing the club’s second consecutive victory over Montgomery.
Sousa, Ofreidy, and Vargas combined for 12 strikeouts across eight innings, only allowing five hits in the process. Offensively, six different Barons would record hits, with Gonzalez being the lone Baron to record multiple hits, finishing the evening 2-for-3 with a home run, single, and walk.
The Barons will take one day off before heading to Huntsville, Alabama for a six-game series versus the Rocket City Trash Pandas. Game one of the series will take place on Tuesday at 6:35 PM CT, as Birmingham looks to extend their winning streak to three games.
Photo credit: Barons PR
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Ti’Quan Forbes came over to us as a third baseman, and he had been drafted as a short stop.
It looks like he is splitting his time now at 1B. Do you know if that reflects a belief he will eventually need to play 1B only, or is just a way for him to get experience with positional flexibility?