Montgomery Biscuits On Fire - Birmingham Barons Lose 2-0

MLN Newswire - MONTGOMERY  ˆ Gabriel Martinez became the second Biscuit in franchise  history to homer off of a moving train, breaking a scoreless  deadlock, as Montgomery (38-27, 74-60) edged ever closer to  its first postseason with a 2-0 shutout of the Birmingham  Barons (27-37, 58-76). With the  win, the Biscuits diminish their magic number to earn a  playoff berth to 2 and their magic number to win the South  Division title to 3. Montgomery received no help elsewhere in  the Southern League, as both Jacksonville and Mobile were  victorious. A  63-minute rain delay in the middle of the fifth inning ended  the night for each starter after the Biscuits' Jason Cromer  and the Barons' Jack Egbert matched goose eggs through 4  1/2 frames.

Montgomery  southpaw Brian Henderson (2-2) kept the visitors scoreless  through the seventh, and Birmingham reliever Oneli Perez  closed in on doing the same by retiring the first two batters  in the bottom of the frame with ease. Then  Martinez struck, perfectly timing his drive to deep  left-center field as a silver train passed beyond the wall on  the near track. It was the first baseman's 10th home run of  the season. An inning  later, phenom Evan Longoria added insurance with his sixth  home run in a Biscuits uniform, doubling the Montgomery lead  to 2-0. Closer  Jean Machi induced double plays to end both the eighth and the  ninth, escaping a two-on none-out situation in the last  inning, to earn his 15th save.