Barons' Bats Burn Biscuits with 8-Run Inning

On a night where Birmingham struggled out the gate, it only took one inning to turn things around entirely. Before then, though, the Biscuits' bats carried the load. Sean Burke started the night for Birmingham, hoping for a change of fortune. However, the 6'6" right-handed pitcher struggled again, lasting just 3.2 innings after allowing three hits, two runs, one earned, three walks, and fanning five.

The unearned tally for Montgomery arrived after a rare catcher's interference. So, to some extent, Burke's relieved for that fault; as for the earned run, though, let's just say the 22-year-old missed location rather badly. Jordan Qsar immediately picked up on it, too, as he sent a ball even further than last night's monstrosity, as this solo homer traveled an unbelievable 469 feet. As a result, Burke's day came to yet another premature ending. He failed to make it into the fifth inning for the fifth straight start.

That said, his replacement from the Barons' bullpen, Felix Paulino, pitched wonderfully. Across 2.1 innings, the 27-year-old surrendered just one base hit while striking out four Biscuits too. Consequently, Paulino earned his team-leading fourth win of the year while lowering his team-leading ERA to 3.44. However, to earn a win, the team as a whole needs to win the game, something the Barons did in the fifth inning alone.

The Barons strung together a truly astonishing number of hits to start the game-changing inning. In order: Evan Skoug, double, D.J. Burt, single, Jose Rodriguez, double to score both Burt & Skoug. At this point, Birmingham tied the game up at two-apiece, and fans were content. However, the Barons were only getting started. With Rodriguez on second, Raudy Read singled, as did Craig Dedelow behind him, but his scored Rodriguez from third, giving the Barons their first lead of the night.

Still, though, the frame was just beginning. After a Moises Castillo walk and Yoelqui Cespedes popout, J.J. Muno singled to score both Read and Dedelow, boosting Birmingham's run total to five. Then, with two down after Ian Dawkins lined out, Evan Skoug stepped back in for the second time this inning and launched a no-doubter into right-field for his seventh of the year. Without a doubt, this inning killed any, and all energy Montgomery had to steal another game on the road.

To make matters worse, the Barons added two more runs in the next two innings. Moises Castillo blooped a sacrifice flyout that really didn't fly too far into the outfield, but Jose Rodriguez's blazing speed forced home Magic City's ninth run of the night. Then, in 8th, Raudy Read sent his second-straight ball into gaps for another RBI-double. Finally, long-story-short, the Barons demolished the Biscuits by a score of 10-2, thereby moving them into sole position of first place in the second-half Southern League standings.