Birmingham drops Game 4 against Mississippi 13-7

The Birmingham Barons drop Game 4 to the Mississippi Braves by a score of 13-7. In the loss, the Barons collected twelve hits, which was two shy of matching their season high with 14. The offensive production was rolling, however the pitching staff allowed for the Braves to steal the game in the final three innings. The Braves mustered up eight runs scattered among the seventh, eighth and ninth to seal the victory for the away side.

The Barons started the game with two dominating innings where starting RHP Cristian Mena sat down all six batters. Mena’s dominance wore off a little as a wild pitch in the top of the third inning would score two runs for the Braves.

Despite the miscue, the Barons bats knew that their pitcher's mistake needed to be avenged. It was avenged in the bottom of the third inning in a blast from Alsander Womack.

Ben Norman led off the inning with a single to get a man on, even though his time on-base was short lived, the leadoff single was a momentum shifter. Womack would send both himself and Norman across home plate as he launched the fourth pitch he saw over the wall in deep centerfield.

The two foes were now knotted at two apiece and would continue to follow after each other's lead. In the fourth each team scored in their respective inning to keep the ballgame all tied up.

As the game kept moving along one team was poised to break the game open, and the Barons made that happen in the fifth. Birmingham may have given up two runs in the top of the inning, however, the offense was ready to pounce when they got the opportunity.

With one out in the inning, Womack was hit by a pitch to get a little energy brewing in the home team dugout. Tyler Neslony followed with his second double of the game to put two runners in scoring position. Keeping the momentum going Bryan Ramos singled to bring home Womack, his first RBI of the season.

The Barons already tallied a run on the board but as Taylor Snyder walked up to the plate there was a sense in Regions Field that he wanted more in the inning. Snyder, on the first pitch he saw, sent a ball towering over the wall in centerfield for a three-run home run. The four-run inning put the Barons up by two and put them in what seemed to be a good place to close out the ballgame.

Birmingham strung together two dominant innings in the fifth and the sixth as the team put themselves in the lead and protected it. Regardless of how well the Barons were playing, the Braves wanted a fight.

In the seventh inning, Mississippi tied the ballgame with an RBI-single and a wild pitch. The Braves two runs may have tied the game, yet they loomed larger. The two runs opened the floodgates for the away team as they would add three in the eighth and ninth to seal the fate of the game.

The Barons offense had no rebuttal, disappearing in the last three innings.

Birmingham may have dropped Game 4; however, the series is now split at two. The Barons send LHP Tommy Sommer to the bump in Saturday’s contest to try and gain the advantage back from the Braves.