Micker Adolfo helps catapult the Barons offense en route to win

Thanks to an explosive fourth inning that included a two-run home run from Carlos Perez and a two-run double from Micker Adolfo, the Birmingham Barons grinded out a 10-9 victory over the Tennessee Smokies on Saturday night. The Barons have emerged victorious in four consecutive contests, tying their longest winning streak of the season. 

In the Barons’ first at-bat of the game, Zach Granite would immediately find his way on base with a single. Romy Gonzalez and Craig Dedelow followed by hitting singles of their own, and by the end of the first frame, Birmingham would come away with a 2-0 lead. 

By the bottom of the fourth, Tennessee would recover from their early deficit to tie the score at 3-3. With the Smokies beginning to build momentum on offense, Birmingham desperately needed to answer back with some scoring of their own.

Boy, did they ever. 

Jameson Fisher would kick off the bottom of the fourth inning by hammering a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Zach Granite to give the Barons a 4-3 lead. Adolfo followed and doubled in two more runners for Birmingham, extending their lead to 6-3. 

To put a cherry on top of the Barons huge inning, Carlos Perez knocked in a two-run homer to push the Barons lead to 8-3 at the end of four frames. It was Perez’s third of the season and tenth of his career.

While the Smokies scored one run in the fifth to trim their deficit to 8-4, Birmingham’s offense would answer back once again in the bottom of the frame. Another two-run homer, this time from shortstop Romy Gonzalez, would put the Barons ahead 10-4 at the end of five.

After seven innings, it was looking like Birmingham would run away with a win. However, an eighth-inning appearance from Barons pitcher Alec Hansen would give the Smokies a chance to recover from their six-run deficit. 

With two outs, Hansen would walk four consecutive batters resulting in two free runs for Tennessee. Darius Hill and Chase Strumpf would then record RBI singles to cut Birmingham’s lead to 10-9. 

Despite Hansen’s poor performance on the mound, the Barons would still come away with the victory, as right-hander Luis Ledo relieved Hansen and shut out the ninth inning to hold off the Smokies’ rally. 

Jason Bilous started on the mound for the Barons, and he would go on to strike out five batters and allow three runs on four hits across four innings. Reliever Peter Tago recorded the win for Birmingham, pitching two innings while striking out two batters and only allowing one run. 

The Barons look to win their fifth in a row as they take on the Smokies Sunday at 4:00 pm CT.

Photo credit: Caleb Probst/FutureSox

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