Huntsville Comeback Bid Falls Short in Ninth

Published on August 21, 2008 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Dewon Day spun five solid frames and was supported with two more home runs in Birmingham's 7-4 victory over Huntsville Thursday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Regions Park. The Barons improved to 30-28 in the second half, while the Stars fell to 27-32 in the second half and 68-61 overall. The Barons have won three straight, and have totaled 22 runs on 41 hits in so doing, to take a nine to four lead in the season series.

Miguel Negron opened the home first with a double and scored when CJ Lang followed with a two-base hit. Victor Mercedes singled Lang to third and both scored when Javier Castillo tripled into right field for his ninth three-base hit of the season, good for second in the league. Stars' starter David Welch worked out of further trouble by retiring Brandon Allen on a shallow fly to left field and striking out Stefan Gartrell.

The Stars got on the board in the second inning on a lead off long ball by Lorenzo Cain, his fourth, and just the second allowed by Day in 38 2/3 innings. Michael Brantley led off the third with a triple and scored on an Alcides Escobar ground out to trim the lead to 3-2 before Brandon Allen crushed a two-run home run in the third inning to push the Barons lead to 5-2. It was his second home run in as many nights, his ninth with the Barons and 24th overall this season. The long ball was also the 20th allowed by Welch and the 13th hit off the southpaw by a left-hand swinger.

Victor Mercedes belted a home run with two outs in the fourth to extend the Barons' lead to 6-2. It was his second home run of the series, third against the Stars this year and 12th of the season to establish a career-high. Welch was lifted after four frames, matching his shortest outing of the year, and suffered the loss to drop to 11-3. He allowed a season-high ten hits, walked two and fanned four.

Day retired the last nine batters he faced to close out his performance to earn his first win of the season after 22 relief outings and a dozen starts between triple-A Charlotte and the Barons. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out four. John Lujan took over and retired each of the nine batters he faced before Fernando Hernandez, who gave up a one-out double to Escobar that ended a stretch of 19 consecutive batters retired. Mat Gamel pushed his hitting streak to eight games with a single that scored Escobar before coming into score on a base hit by Cole Gillespie that sliced the lead to 7-4. Hernandez was replaced by Jon Link, who struck out Chris Errecart to end the game with two runners on base. Link earned his league-high and minor league best 34th save.

The series wraps up Friday night with right-hander Alex Periard taking the hill for Huntsville against Barons' right-hander Lucas Harrell. Coverage begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

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Southern League Stories from August 21, 2008


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