Barons Bats Beat Smokies Defense in 7-1 Win

The Barons (44-49) picked up another win against the Smokies (50-43) in a 7-1 victory at Smokies Stadium for the series lead.

After four and a half scoreless innings, Tennessee got on the board with their only run of the game, but the Barons quickly responded with an RBI single off a line drive from Ian Dawkins to score JJ Muno in the top of the fifth. The Barons added on to their lead the following inning with a two run RBI double from Yoelqui Céspedes that scored Moises Castillo and Oscar Colas, but would see Craig Dedelow thrown out in a close play at the plate.

JJ Muno also saw success a few batters later following a Tennessee pitching change; with the bases loaded, he drove a 0-2 pitch out and over the head of Yonathan Perlaza that bounced off the warning track and over the fence for a ground rule double, increasing the Barons lead to 5-1.

The offense remained quiet for Birmingham until the top of the ninth, with a sacrifice fly from Dedelow to score Castillo followed by a hard hit triple from Alex Destino to center field that brought in Colas for the final 7-1 tally.

Barons pitching also saw another strong performance with starter RHP Jason Bilous (5-7) pitching through the sixth inning and nabbing the win. LHP Sammy Peralta entered the game in the seventh, quickly retiring the Smokies in order. Tennessee squeaked out a single off of Peralta in the eighth off the bat of Christian Donahue, but Peralta swiftly shutdown any comeback chance by striking out the next three Smokie batters. Another offensive push was attempted in the ninth against RHP Edgar Navarro, however, the closer prevented any further offensive success.

The two teams, currently tied for first in the second half, will meet again tomorrow night at 6:15 p.m./CT.