Barons Fall Behind 0-2; Lose 8-1
September 11, 2009 - Southern League (SL1)
Birmingham Barons News Release
The Barons had a storybook regular season, but nothing has gone to script through the first two games in the playoffs.
The Barons lost for the second night in a row 8-1, and moved to within one game of elimination in the best-of-five Division Series.
Matt Zaleski (0-1, 3.00) got through the first four innings unscathed, but ran into trouble with two outs in the fifth inning. Brad Davis started the two-out rally with a bases empty single. He scored one batter later on a Bryan Petersen double to center field. Chris De La Cruz put the Suns up by a pair with a run-scoring single to center field.
Zaleski would go six innings and allow just the two runs on seven hits. He struck out three and walked three.
The Barons cut the lead in half in the sixth on an RBI double by Jared Price that plated John Shelby III. But that was as close as the Barons would get to the Suns.
The visitors added a run in the seventh inning when Brad Davis tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a Chris De La Cruz single.
Jacksonville struck again in the eighth inning off Barons reliever Clevelan Santeliz. Scott Cousins led off with a single and moved to third on a one-out single by Lorenzo Scott. Cousins came around to score on a Matt Dominguez double. Scott later scored on a wild pitch. In all, the Suns scored twice off Santeliz, who had allowed just two earned runs to score since June 14.
The Suns capped off their scoring with three runs in the ninth inning to put the game out of reach. Kevin Randel came to the dish with the bases full of Suns and just one out. A hard hit ground ball to Colina gave the Barons a chance to end the inning with a double play, but Colina hurled the ball into left field, allowing two runs to score on the play. Scott added the final run with a sacrifice fly to center field.
The 92-win club, which led the Southern League with 725 runs scored in the regular season, had their chances early. The Barons left six men on base through the first three innings, including a no-out, bases-loaded opportunity in the third inning that ended on a Javier Colina double play.
Graham Taylor (1-0, 1.59) pitched 5.2 effective innings. The lefty got out of the early trouble to keep his team in the game. He allowed eight hits but just one run.
The loss marked the Barons ninth straight postseason defeat, and the 14th time in 18 playoff games this decade that the team has failed to score two-or-more runs.
The two teams will travel through the night to Jacksonville for Game 3 Saturday night. Right-hander Matt Long will pitch to keep the Barons season alive opposite right-hander Brad Stone. First pitch in Jacksonville is set for 6:05 PM.
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Southern League Stories from September 11, 2009
- Suns Take 2-0 Series Lead with 8-1 Victory - Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp
- Barons Fall Behind 0-2; Lose 8-1 - Birmingham Barons
- Coleman Leads Smokies Past Stars 3-1 - Tennessee Smokies
- Tennessee Heads Home With Split In Huntsville - Huntsville Stars
- Jason Heyward Honored by USA Today & Baseball America - Mississippi Braves
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