Pinto, Biscuits Walk Off Barons, 5-4 (10)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Rene Pinto hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th, and the Biscuits (16-18) defeated the Birmingham Barons (21-13) in dramatic fashion, 5-4 (10), on Saturday night at Riverwalk Stadium.

Tommy Romero made his sixth start of the season for the Biscuits, and looked sharp early, striking out three through the first two scoreless frames. The right-hander got some early assistance from his offense as well thanks to a lead-off double by Miles Mastrobuoni. Xavier Edwards then bunted Mastrobuoni over to third before Jonathan Aranda knocked him in with a sac fly to make it 1-0 in the first against Barons starter Emilio Vargas.

The Biscuits would add a second run in the fourth when Aranda scored on a Vargas wild pitch to make it 2-0. Romero continued to cruise, retiring 11 in a row at one point, before allowing three hits and a run in the fifth on Laz Rivera’s RBI-single, which made it 2-1. Romero still wiggled out of the jam, tallying his seventh strikeout with runners at the corners to end the threat.

Joel Peguero came on for Romero in the sixth and worked a clean sixth, and Jack Laboksy did the same for the Biscuits in the seventh to preserve the 2-1 lead. Jake Palomaki tripled to begin the bottom of the seventh, and Mastrobuoni then brought home the third baseman with an RBI-single to give the Biscuits some insurance at 3-1.

Biscuits closer Ivan Pelaez (2-2) entered in the ninth, but Romy Gonzalez’s solo homer and Craig Dedelow’s RBI-double tied things up at three. The Biscuits went down without a run in the bottom half, and the game moved to extras.

Mitch Roman cracked an RBI-single on a blooper to center to give the Barons their first lead of the game at 4-3 in the top of the 10th. Moises Gomez started the bottom of the 10th on second, and after Seaver Whalen struck out, Pinto dug into the box and belted his third home run of the season to right-center field on the first pitch he saw from Bennett Sousa (0-1) to send the Riverwalk Stadium faithful into a frenzy. The victory was the Biscuits third walk-off win of the season, which also clinched their second-consecutive series win.

The Biscuits will try to take five of six from the Barons on Sunday when RHP Easton McGee (0-0) clashes with RHP Jason Bilous (0-0) at 3:33 PM CT when there will be a Toothbrush Holder Giveaway by Dentistry for Children.