Barons Fall To M-Braves on walk-off homer In 11th
For the second-straight night, the Birmingham Barons stood toe-to-toe against the Southern League's hottest team but suffered a late-inning loss, this time falling on a walk-off home run in the eleventh inning as the Mississippi Braves prevailed by a score of 6-5 in front of 5,260 fans at Trustmark Park.
The M-Braves jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, scoring two runs in the first on an RBI double by Cedric Hunter and an RBI single by Seth Loman and another run in the second on a run scoring base hit by Kyle Wren against Barons' starter Mike Recchia.
However, the red-hot start for Tim Anderson at the Double-A level continued as he cut the M-Braves lead to 3-2 in the fifth with a two-run single. After an RBI double by Barrett Kleinknecht extended the lead to 4-2 in the sixth, Anderson struck again plating Adam Heisler with a ringing double to center and scored the tying run on a base hit by Jason Coats later in the inning.
With one out in the ninth, Anderson reached again on an infield single, moving to 4-for-5 on the night. He scored on the next pitch as Dan Black doubled into the gap in right-center, giving the Barons their first lead of the game at 5-4.
Reliever Nestor Molina was unable to hold the lead in the bottom half of the inning, allowing an RBI single to Kyle Wren, which tied the game at 5-5. The blown save by Molina was the 22nd by the Barons bullpen this season.
After a scoreless tenth inning, Mississippi shortstop Gustavo Nunez sent the first pitch he saw against reliever Kevin Vance (6-4, 4.84) over the right field wall for a walk-off solo home run, giving the M-Braves a 6-5 win. The loss dropped the Barons to 2-11 in extra-innings this season including 1-5 on the road.
In his first two games at the Double-A level since being promoted from Class A Winston-Salem, Anderson is 7-for-9 with two doubles, three runs scored and three RBI but the Barons are 0-2 in the those games.
With the loss, the Barons fell to 58-74 on the season and 29-33 in the second half while Mississippi improved to 77-54 on the year and 38-24 in the second half.
The Barons will look to rebound tomorrow night as RHP Terance Marin (NR) makes his Double-A debut and takes the hill against RHP Williams Perez (6-6, 3.02). First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 PM CDT.