Biscuits Spoil Battenfield's Strong Outing
July 30, 2019 - Southern League (SL1)
Birmingham Barons News Release
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Despite a strong outing from Blake Battenfield, the Birmingham Barons (21-15, 48-57) fell to the Montgomery Biscuits (27-12, 71-38) by a 1-0 final Tuesday night at Riverwalk Stadium.
Battenfield worked six scoreless frames before Montgomery scored the lone run of the game in the seventh inning. The 24-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out three to earn his third quality start of the season.
The former Oklahoma State product retired 16 consecutive batters through the middle innings before Montgomery's Tristan Gray drew a one-out walk in the seventh. Gray later came around to score via a fielder's choice.
Battenfield (L, 4-3) went pitch-for-pitch alongside Biscuits left-hander Kenny Rosenberg, who logged five shutout innings behind opener Blake Bivens. Rosenberg (W, 11-1) and Bivens combined to allow just three hits.
The Barons squandered their top scoring opportunity of the game in the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. Blake Rutherford singled to lead off the frame and advanced to second with the help of a throwing error. Gavin Sheets followed with a walk and Luis Gonzalez loaded the bases with another walk two batters later. However, a strikeout and a soft fly to right ended the threat with no runs.
Battenfield and the duo of Biscuits pitchers took dueling shutout bids into the seventh before the Biscuits broke the scoreless tie. Barons right-hander Alec Hansen relieved Battenfield and limited the damage to just the single run.
Hansen struck out four across 1.1 innings of work out of the bullpen, which included three consecutive strikeouts to retire the side in the eighth.
Birmingham went down in order in the ninth as Montgomery right-hander Ian Gardick collected his second save of the season to seal the Biscuits' 18th shutout, which leads the Southern League and all of affiliated baseball.
The Barons and Biscuits will conclude their five-game series Wednesday night as Birmingham sends left-hander Tanner Banks (1-5, 4.36) to the mound against Montgomery right-hander Jason Garcia (4-0, 2.35).
First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. CT at Riverwalk Stadium and the game will be broadcast via WJQX-FM 100.5.
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