Biscuits Hang On, Edge Barons, 4-3

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Cal Stevenson hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the eighth, and the Biscuits (53-46) held on to a tension-filled 4-3 win over the Birmingham Barons (53-46) on Friday night at Regions Field. The Biscuits are once again tied for second place with the Barons in the Double-A South, with 20 games to play.

Reliever Peter Tago made his first start since 2013 for Birmingham, and the right-hander walked Jonathan Aranda, but retired everyone else in the top of the first, striking out Ruben Cardenas swinging. Biscuits starter Easton McGee allowed a two-out single to Xavier Fernandez, but sat down the other three batters in the bottom of the first.

Ford Proctor singled and Stevenson walked to begin the top of the second, but the Biscuits were not able to capitalize. McGee then worked a scoreless bottom of the second, and Tago a scoreless top of the third. Jagger Rusconi doubled in the bottom of the third, but McGee did not allow a run in the frame, and picked up two more strikeouts, running his total to three.

Andrew Perez came on for Tago and pitched a scoreless top of the fourth, ringing up a pair. McGee did the same in the bottom of the fourth. The Biscuits would get their breakthrough in the top of the fifth when Jim Haley stepped up and hammered a two-out solo home run to right-center off Perez to hand Montgomery a 1-0 edge.

The Barons responded with a Rusconi RBI-single and a Jameson Fisher RBI-double—both off McGee—in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead, 2-1. The Biscuits then tied the game in the top of the sixth with an RBI-single from Moises Gomez, and retook the lead, 3-2, with a Jake Palomaki RBI-fielder’s choice.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as Joe DeCarlo hit a home run off the foul pole in left to make it 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Brian Glowicki (0-1) then worked a one-two-three top of the seventh out of the Birmingham bullpen.

Stevenson led off the top of the eighth with a towering solo home run to right-center off Brian Glowicki and put the Biscuits back in front at 4-3. Colby White then came on for the Joel Peguero (3-6) and worked a scoreless bottom of the eighth for Montgomery.

The Barons got runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but White got Craig Dedelow to ground out to the pitcher to end the game and seal a crucial win for the Biscuits.

The Biscuits will aim for second place all by themselves when Miller Hogan battles Jason Bilous (2-6) in game five on Saturday at 6:30 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.