Biscuits Bounce Back, Punish Barons, 9-2

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Biscuits (52-45) brought their bats to the yard and recorded 15 hits in a 9-2 win over the Birmingham Barons (52-45) on Wednesday night at Regions Field. The Biscuits are now tied for second place in the Double-A South with the Barons with 22 games to play.

Emilio Vargas (6-2) started on the mound for the Barons, and the right-hander struck out the first two batters of the game, getting Xavier Edwards and Greg Jones swinging before Jonathan Aranda cracked a double to run his hitting streak to 10 games in a scoreless top of the first.

Biscuits starting pitcher Adrian De Horta needed just five pitches to retire the Barons in order in the bottom of the first. Ruben Cardenas tugged a two-out single to left in the top of the second, but was then thrown out by Birmingham catcher Carlos Perez trying to steal second. De Horta then sat the Barons down in order again the in the bottom of the second.

Edwards reached on a two-out single in the top of the third, but that was all the Biscuits could muster that inning. De Horta allowed a single to Craig Dedelow, but retired everyone else in the bottom of the third, keeping the game scoreless. Niko Hulsizer just missed out on a home run, doubling off the top of the wall in right in a scoreless top of the fourth.

Cristofer Ogando (5-2) came on for De Horta and pitched a clean bottom of the fourth, striking out a pair. In the top of the fifth, Cardenas singled again before Cal Stevenson bunted the left fielder to second. Jim Haley then climbed in and socked a two-run home run to left off Vargas to put the Biscuits ahead, 2-0.

Ogando retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth before allowing a double to Perez. Jameson Fisher then slashed an RBI-single in the next at-bat and got the Barons on the board at 2-1.

The Biscuits would add a couple of insurance runs thanks to an RBI-groundout by Edwards and an RBI-single by Aranda to make it 4-1. The Biscuits then erupted for five more runs in the eighth courtesy of a Hulsizer solo homer to center, a Haley RBI-single to right, another Edwards RBI-groundout, and an Aranda two-run double to make it 9-1. The Barons added another run in the ninth on an Xavier Fernandez RBI-single off Chris Gau.

The Biscuits will go for back-to-back victories on Thursday night when Jayden Murray (1-1) goes against Blake Battenfield (7-6) at 7:05 PM CT.

The Biscuits will return to Riverwalk Stadium for a six-game series against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos starting on a Golden Biscuits Tuesday, on August 31 at 6:35 PM CT.

The rest of the series will include a Military Wednesday presented by WOW! on Wednesday, September 1; Board Game Night with a T-Shirt Giveaway on Thursday, September 2; HBCU Night on Friday, September 3; Take Me Out to the Ballgame Night with MAX Fireworks on Saturday, September 4; and Lil' Crumbs Kids Club presented by Go Fish Alabama & Bark in the Park on Sunday, September 5.