Greene's blast wins Rickwood Classic
Greene led off the bottom of the 11th inning with his fifth homer of the season Wednesday afternoon to give the Birmingham Barons a 4-3 walk-off win over the Chattanooga Lookouts in the 16th annual Rickwood Classic.
The Barons, the White Sox's Double-A affiliate, have played one regular-season game at historic Rickwood Field each of the last 16 seasons, often wearing throwback jerseys that celebrate the long history of baseball in Birmingham.
Built in 1910 and modeled after Pittsburgh's Forbes Field and Philadelphia's Shibe Park, Rickwood Field -- the oldest ballpark in America -- was the home of the Barons through 1987.
The 2011 edition of the Classic celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1961 season, which was the final year of the old Southern Association. The Barons and Lookouts were Association members that season and both teams wore 1961-style uniforms on Wednesday.
The two clubs scored two runs apiece in the first inning before Chattanooga took a 3-2 lead when Brian Cavazos-Galvez doubled and scored in the second.
With Birmingham down to its last out in the ninth, Seth Loman drew a walk off Lookouts reliever Shawn Tolleson, who was making his second Double-A appearance after starting the season with Class A Great Lakes and making five dominant outings with Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga.
Kenneth Williams followed with a game-tying triple that scored pinch-runner Tyler Kuhn. Tolleson, who pitched two perfect frames Tuesday, got Kyle Shelton to ground out, stranding the potential winning run at third.
The Lookouts threatened in the 10th as Kyle Russell hit a one-out double and moved to third when Ivan Ochoa reached on an error by reliever Brian Omogrosso. But Omogrosso retired the next two batters on groundouts to end the inning.
Greene was hitless in three at-bats Wednesday and 3-for-25 with 11 strikeouts in his previous eight games when he came to the plate in the 11th. Though he had four homers, just one had come in the last 18 games.
Right-hander Josh Wall (3-1), who pitched a perfect 10th, had not given up a longball in 21 outings this season, his first as a full-time reliever.
Those stats went out the window as Greene crushed a shot to left, giving the Barons their third victory over the Lookouts in the three Classics the clubs have played against each other.
Birmingham totaled six hits, with leadoff man Alden Carrithers going 2-for-5, and committed four errors.
Barons starter Justin Edwards went a season-high eight frames, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on six hits. He fanned a season-best seven and did not walk a batter. Reliever Dan Remenowsky improved to 3-1 after striking out three in a scoreless inning.
Scott Van Slyke led the Lookouts with a pair of doubles, a single and an RBI. He leads the team with a .333 average, .407 on-base percentage and .552 slugging percentage.
Lookouts starter Allen Webster was solid in his second Double-A outing, giving up two runs on four hits over seven innings.
John Parker is a contributor to MLB.com.