The Birmingham Barons won a pair of contests Thursday against the Tennessee Smokies. Game one was a suspended affair from Wednesday evening due to rain. Game two was played across seven innings.
GAME ONE
Thanks to a solo home run in the sixth inning from White Sox No. 14 prospect Micker Adolfo, along with center fielder Joel Booker’s best batting performance of the 2021 season, the Birmingham Barons rolled to a 5-4 victory following the resumption of Wednesday’s suspended contest over the Tennessee Smokies on Thursday.
Barons left-hander Konnor Pilkington took the mound Wednesday and pitched three innings before rain started pouring over Regions Field. Pilkington struck out four batters and didn’t allow a hit.
When the action resumed on Thursday, left-hander Kyle Kubat took over for the Barons and recorded the win, striking out three batters while only allowing one earned run on two hits. Ofreidy Gomez earned the save for Birmingham, putting out three consecutive batters in the ninth to seal the Barons victory.
The offense immediately came alive when action resumed on Thursday. Joel Booker and Laz Rivera would each single in runs to help give Birmingham a 3-0 lead.
Entering this contest, Booker was batting .139 in 36 appearances at the plate. He improved on that mark following two singles, as well as a sacrifice fly, to help ignite Birmingham’s offense.
Across the next three frames, Micker Adolfo would steal the show for Birmingham, recording a single in the fourth and knocking in a solo home run in the sixth to extend the Barons lead to 4-0.
Adolfo (2-for-4) and Booker (2-for-3) accounted for half of Birmingham’s eight hits on the night.
Despite facing over three total hours of rain delays across Wednesday and Thursday night’s action, the Barons showed great poise on both sides of the ball in this victory. The 4-0 cushion that Adolfo and Booker helped build across the first six frames was vital, as Barons reliever J.B. Olson would allow three runs across the seventh and eighth innings. However, clutch pitching from Ofreidy Gomez would prevent the Smokies from scoring again.
GAME TWO
Birmingham Barons left-hander John Parke found his rhythm on the mound early in the second game of Thursday night’s double-header and never looked back. Parke would allow only one hit in a 1-0 victory over Tennessee, marking the 26-year-old pitcher’s first win of the season.
Parke threw six shutout innings, walked one and struck out four in the gem. Left-hander Bennett Sousa would relieve Parke in the seventh inning and recorded the save for Birmingham, his second of the season.
While the Barons’ pitching was masterful, the offense couldn’t find a rhythm throughout the night. Third baseman Laz Rivera and shortstop J.J. Muno were the only Barons to record hits in seven innings of play, as Muno would single in a run in the second inning to give Birmingham the lead for good in this contest.
Muno and Rivera would both finish the game batting 1-for-2, while Zach Granite, Ti’Quan Forbes, and Romy Gonzalez would each bat 0-for-3.
This contest was only seven innings long, as both teams also played six-and-a-half innings in the first game of Thursday’s double header. With both wins on Thursday, the Barons improve to 18-9. They look to win their third straight over the Smokies on Friday night at 7:05p CT.
Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox
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