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SL Birmingham Barons

Extra-Innings, Extra Drama, Extra Celebration

June 12, 2022 - Southern League (SL)
Birmingham Barons News Release


Birmingham's pitching continued to excel at unprecedented levels on Sunday's series finale. For a team that's struggled tremendously with good starting pitching, Jason Bilous certainly turned that narrative on its' head. After struggling the first time around on Tuesday, Bilous made great strides to return to his early-season form. However, Pensacola's pitching matched the efforts put forth by Bilous and held Birmingham's league-leading hitters in check.

The Blue Wahoos did not use the same pitcher from game one of the series (A.J. Ladwig). Instead, they opted for right-handed pitcher Cody Mincey. Mincey's pitched somewhat well on the year, earning a 3-2 record with a 5.54 ERA. Not only did Mincey live up to those numbers, but he surpassed them too, as outside of back-to-back innings, he threw a very good ballgame.

The scoring started on Sunday with a solo home run to dead center by J.D. Osborne of the Blue Wahoos. The towering homer ended up traveling 425 feet and gave us the impression Bilous might endure another trying day at the office. However, the Barons' pitcher recovered very well and ended with a strong day of pitching. Specifically, Bilous posted a final line of 5.2 IP, his longest outing since May 3rd, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 7 SOs, which ties his season-high.

All he needed, though, was some run support from this dangerous lineup. Of all Birmingham's players, few would've predicted J.J. Muno to get bats off of the rack. Nevertheless, the left-handed-hitting infielder enjoyed himself quite the day on both sides of the field because not only did his roped double score the Barons' first run, but the very next inning, he completed two challenging defensive plays as well. Then, in the subsequent bottom half, the Barons' MVP, Lenyn Sosa, smacked his 13th long ball of the season into the opposing team's bullpen.

Unfortunately, the hard work of Jason Bilous ended up going by the wayside because of Birmingham's bullpen. Replacing him for the final out in the sixth was Edgar Navarro, who, after a walk, bounced back to end the frame without a scratch. The same cannot be said for the following inning, though. Most notably, his control appeared to be the issue as he hit back-to-back batters to ultimately load the bases up for Pensacola. Next up was a wild pitch that could've easily granted the Barons a free out at the plate, but Evan Skoug dropped the ball, unfortunately. The Blue Wahoos took advantage of that mistake and smacked a two-RBI double right thereafter to give them a 4-2 lead.

Birmingham's bats threatened to make a splash but failed to ever connect until the final stand. J.J. Muno yet again stepped up to the challenge and flourished like never before. With one down, a runner on first, down two, Muno turns on a ball and sends it towering into the air. Slowly, but surely this ball climbed and climbed and it ever so slightly landed over the wall for a game-tying two-run home run, Muno's first of the year. The ballpark erupted with excitement, all while the game still needed to be played.

Into extras we went, as Birmingham kept reliever Theo Denlinger in for his second inning. Denlinger couldn't control the heater too well, but eventually overcame it. Not before Pensacola brought home that ghost runner from second, though. As the bottom of the tenth rolled around, Birmingham's biggest bats were due up, but could not connect as their aggressive nature forced bad swings and poor contact. However, Evan Skoug, with two down, did make good wood, but right at the second baseman.

In what seemed like the game ending groundout, the speed behind the ball became too much for the Wahoo, and it squirted into the outfield. In the eleventh, Birmingham's new arm shut the door without any trouble whatsoever and left this talented offense with a chance to win their first extra-innings game of the year. However, they failed to do so. It took until the 12th for one side to take control. In the top half, Birmingham quickly allowed the ghost runner to score, bringing the game to a 6-5 Wahoos lead.

With one out, and Tyler Neslony on second, Yoelqui Cespedes took a big hack at the first pitch and had just enough mustard behind it to lift it over the infielder's heads. Therefore, the Barons answered the call and evened things back up at six runs. Then, following an Evan Skoug popout, Ian Dawkins entered the box and almost immediately fell behind 0-2.

Barons' manager Justin Jirschele took a chance and put Cespedes in motion on the next pitch, which Dawkins lined up the middle. After deflecting off the back of the mound, the ball slowly rolled in between center and left, and with Cespedes pumping his arms the whole way, Jirschele was waving him home. With a good throw, he'd be out by a decent margin, but the ball came in a little weak and yet again ricocheted off the back part of the hill and went flying into the air. With that, Cespedes scored with ease and Barons stormed the field to celebrate a well-deserved, hard-fought win.

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