SL Birmingham Barons

Veras Heats up in 8-4 Loss to Rocket City

Published on August 6, 2023 under Southern League (SL)
Birmingham Barons News Release


On Friday, August 4th, Wilfred Veras was called up from High-A Winston-Salem to Double-A Birmingham. Veras was placed in the starting lineup on Friday, securing his first hit and RBI of the season as a Baron in the loss. The 20-year-old then burst onto the scene in Saturday's 8-4 loss as he finished the night 3-4 from the plate with a double and an RBI. Despite his efforts the Barons did drop the contest to the Rocket City Trash Pandas and fell to 34-67 on the season.

Veras' dominant performance started in the bottom of the first to snag the early lead for the Barons. Before Wilfred's efforts, The Trash Pandas did get on the board first as Nolan Schanuel smacked an RBI single for the one run difference. The Barons were quick to put themselves in the driver's seat as Edgar Quero and Veras both delivered RBI singles, respectively.

Despite the quick response from the Barons, Rocket City was not fazed and reclaimed the lead with a single off the bat from Kyren Paris. The Trash Pandas and Paris capitalized on an E4 from Jose Rodriguez and smacked a line drive single to right field and scored a pair of runs. Both teams were prepared for a battle as it seemed if one scored so did the other.

The Barons continued that trend in the bottom of the second, thanks to Veras and Terrell Tatum. Veras got the scoring started with a ground ball to third base that scored Jason Matthews in the process. Tatum built on the hard-hit ground and smacked a single into right field to score Rodriguez and capture the lead back to make it 4-3.

The two teams' offenses cooled off for a couple innings as the starting pitchers controlled the third, fourth and fifth. LHP Ky Bush got his second start with the Barons and put together a much better outing than his first with the ball club. Bush in his first start allowed 12 hits and seven earned runs to go with zero strikeouts. The southpaw put together 5.0 IP with four hits, three runs, one earned and three strikeouts.

Bush got his footing starting in the third inning as he was able to sit down the opposition in order each of the next three innings. Even with the aid from the mound, the Barons bats could not get anything going as they were only able to get one hit in the three innings.

The Barons and Bush protected their lead until the sixth, Where Rocket City put together another two-run frame to capture the lead, again. In the sixth, the Barons opted to call RHP Chase Plymell from the bullpen, which quickly turned into the wrong move for the home team.

Plymell was met by the Trash Pandas' middle of the lineup and allowed a two-run RBI single before recording an out. The righty escaped his lone inning of work with no more damage done but did get slapped with the loss. The Barons were not able to respond back this time as the offense would go baron the rest of the game on the scoreboard.

The two foes would enter another scoreless duel as LHP Garrett Schoenle came out of the pen to command the mound. Schoenle was tasked with 2.0 innings of work in which he allowed zero hits, zero runs and walked three to go with one strikeout.

The Barons were not able to respond in any of the closing innings except for a Veras double in the bottom of the ninth. Veras' double would have garnered more excitement from the home crowd if it wasn't for Rocket City capturing three runs in the top of the ninth. Barons RHP Jeremiah Burke was the guilty party tagged to the runs allowed and the energy escaping from Regions Field.

Birmingham drops their second straight game to Rocket City and their fifth in the seven-game series. The Barons will have one more opportunity to snag a win against the Trash Pandas Sunday, August 6th, as LHP Jake Eder takes the mound for his first start with Birmingham.

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Southern League Stories from August 6, 2023


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