Birmingham's Bullpen Shines in Extra-Inning Victory

On Saturday night, pitching prowess dominated. Both sides had their best stuff going, as offensive production was hard to come by. Specifically, both teams combined for just five knocks through four full innings. However, the Barons got the ball rolling in fifth. Thus far, Mississippi's starter Freddy Tarnok silenced Birmingham by allowing just two hits while striking out five. That all changed when Birmingham's catcher Evan Skoug launched a towering solo home run down the right-field line.

The Barons faced some trouble in the bottom half, but starter Jason Bilous escaped a bases-loaded scenario with a clutch strikeout. Similarly, Birmingham brought home another run in the sixth, but certainly aimed for more, as they left the three ducks on the pond. Nevertheless, the Barons took a 2-0 lead into the sixth. Bilous dominated all facets of the game to this point, but as the bottom half opened, it became evident that fatigue was catching up to him.

Following consecutive walks to start the frame, Justin Jirschele pulled the righty from the game. In his place, Magic City went with Fraser Ellard. In limited opportunities so far, Ellard's proved himself as a valuable addition to the shaky bullpen. Immediately, though, Ellard gave up a single that surely should've brought home a run, but a baserunning miscue granted Birmingham a free out. Ellard ended the inning without allowing a run, thereby ending the stat line for Bilous at 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, and 6 strikeouts.

With Ellard still out there in the seventh, the Braves bounced back courtesy of a two-out, two-RBI base hit that tied things up at two-apiece. Then, for the subsequent four innings of baseball, neither side pulled away. This included the tenth and eleventh inning, which starts with a ghost runner on second, and yet neither side could bring that runner across.

Finally, in the twelfth inning, that trend ended with an extremely lucky bloop single for Birmingham. Luis Curbelo, who advanced to third after a wild pitch, walked in the go-ahead run. However, Birmingham added an insurance run later in the frame, thanks to yet another wild pitch. As a result, the Barons brought Sam Peralta to close things out, but he could not do so without a bit of drama.

Mississippi successfully drove in their ghost runner from second by poking a single into the outfield gap. But then, after the Braves moved their runner to second with a stolen base, Peralta ended things with a groundout and strikeout. Overall, Birmingham came out in the end 4-3 after twelve innings of nearly perfect pitching. Moreover, despite giving up three total runs, they all came from the unearned variety.