Booker, Sheets Blasts Even Series in Saturday Win

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A couple of long balls and effective pitching got the Birmingham Barons (52-63) a timely 4-2 win over the Montgomery Biscuits (75-44) Saturday night at Regions Field.

In the bottom of the fifth, Joel Booker sent a 2-2 pitch from Biscuits reliever Kenny Rosenberg over the left field fence for a two-run homer and propelled the Barons to a 3-0 lead. It was Booker's second homer of the series and his third of the season.
New Baron Luis Valenzuela, making his first start with Birmingham, singled to lead off the fifth. After getting to third on a hit-and-run play with Nate Nolan's single, Rosenberg delivered a wild pitch that skirted to the left side and scored Valenzuela from third to make it 1-0.
Starter Blake Battenfield got off to a good start and kept it going, striking out six Biscuits in his 5.2 scoreless innings. Danny Dopico came in first to relieve him, going the next inning and a third and allowed one run.
The Biscuits started chipping away later in the game, getting RBI singles from Rene Pinto and Tristan Gray in the seventh and eighth, respectively, to cut it to 3-2.
With that one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth, Barons first baseman Gavin Sheets padded on to his Southern League in RBI with a lead off solo blast to deep right field. The homer was a critical insurance run to push the lead to 4-2 and it brought Sheets' RBI total to 71 on the season.
Codi Heuer came in for the ninth and locked down a 1-2-3 inning and secured his eighth save of the season.
Sunday will be a critical final game of the series for the Barons, who can take the series with a win and cut their deficit in the second-half down to 3.5 games.
Birmingham will end their home series with Montgomery Sunday afternoon, starting at 4 p.m. CT. Left-hander Tanner Banks (1-6, 4.69) will man the rubber and make his 17^th start with the Barons.
WJQX-FM 100.5 will be the home of the Barons on Sunday. Fans can tune into the Coca-Cola Pregame Show starting at 3:45 p.m.
The Birmingham Barons are the proud Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. The Barons will open the home portion of their 2019 season, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of Michael Jordan's lone year in baseball, against the Tennessee Smokies at 7:05 p.m. April 10 at Regions Field. For ticket information, game schedule, promotions calendar or additional information about Regions Field, please visit barons.com or call (205) 988-3200.
Southern League Champions: 1906 • 1912 • 1914 • 1928 • 1929 • 1931 • 1958 • 1967 •1983 • 1987 • 1989 • 1993 • 2002 • 2013
33-Year Double-A Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox