Trash Pandas End Birmingham's Winning Streak at 3

On Saturday, Birmingham stood in a place they've never been this year. The Barons would've claimed their first series victory within the southern division with a win. However, Rocket City forced them to wait at least another day by defeating Birmingham and ending their three-game winning streak. The Barons opted for a bullpen day on Saturday, with Garrett Davila earning the start.

Last week, Davila made his first two career minor league starts. As a result, the 25-year-old southpaw walked away with six-scoreless innings of near-perfect baseball. In fact, last time around, Davila went 4.0 innings of no-hit baseball. Immediately, though, the same could not be said about Saturday. Rocket City jumped on the first pitch and sent a single into right. The inning should've ended without a scratch, but Jose Rodriguez botched a backhanded grounder and allowed the Pandas to score first.

In the third, following a leadoff bunt single, Davila missed location badly and reaped the consequences. Rocket City's Aaron Whitefield launched a no-doubter off the jumbotron for a two-run, 418-foot home run. Doing so provided them an early 3-0 lead, but Davila recovered well enough to finish the frame. That said, his night did not last much longer, as in the fourth, the Pandas chased the reigning pitcher of the week out of the game. Ultimately, Davila's final line looked like this: 3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, and 5 strikeouts, which did match a season-high for the lefty.

On the flip side, the Southern League's best offense faced a fierce Coleman Crow. On the season, Crow entered with a 4-2 record and 3.20 ERA but ended up improving upon both of those numbers significantly. Specifically, the 5'10" right-handed pitcher only surrendered one base hit through six full innings, which, like Rocket City, occurred on the first pitch of the first inning. The seventh inning showed some promise as Craig Dedelow ripped a leadoff triple down the right-field line. However, Coleman Crow also escaped that as well, retiring the next three in order.

Crow ended with the best night of his young professional career. Specifically, his 8 innings pitched set a career-high, while his two hits allowed matched his season-low as well. Granted, the last time he gave up just two, Crow lasted just 5.2 innings. Although the offensive issues dominated the game for Birmingham, their bullpen did a strong job in the latter two-thirds of the game. Specifically, Brian Glowicki and Felix Paulino combined for 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BBs, and one punchout too.

Nonetheless, you cannot win a game without runs. Ironically enough, the last time Birmingham got shut out was on May 22nd against the Rocket City Trash Pandas, and, who else, but Coleman Crow. Even more ironic, the final score of that game, was also 4-0. With the loss, Birmingham moves to 30-38 with just one game remaining in the first half. They'll send Sean Burke to the hill in an attempt to claim the series and end the season strong.