Birmingham Barons Rally to Secure Wild 11-6 Win Over Mississippi Braves

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Birmingham Barons used a nine-run sixth inning, highlighted by a pair of Lee Cruz home runs, to come from behind and upend the Mississippi Braves Thursday night. The win was just Birmingham's (58-45, 18-15) second in the last eight games against the Braves and was only the team's third in 11 tries since taking the first eight contests of the season between the two clubs.

Each team plated a pair of runs in the second inning, and Mississippi (50-53, 20-13) added another pair in the fourth and one in the sixth to take a 5-2 advantage.

The lead would not last, though, as the Barons sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame, scoring nine times on six hits, a pair of walks, a hit batsman, and three wild pitches.

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Stefan Gartrell grounded out to open the inning off Braves starter Kris Medlen (3-6), and then the fireworks began. Lee Cruz ripped a solo homer to left, his second of the year, and pulled the Barons within 5-3.

Two singles and a hit batsman loaded the bases, and Mississippi made a pitching change to bring in reliever Kevin Gunderson, who induced a soft ground ball from Miguel Negron that was turned into an RBI force-out when Robert Valido was retired at second base. Valido did not slide into the bag during the play, though, and Braves shortstop Javier Guzman was unable to make a throw to first to attempt the double play, allowing the inning to continue.

Michael Nix checked in from the Mississippi bullpen, and Victor Mercedes promptly smacked a two-run double to center field that gave the Barons a 6-5 lead. Javier Castillo followed with an RBI single, and a pair of walks loaded the bases once again. A Nix wild pitch allowed another run to score, and Cruz deposited the next offering beyond the left field wall for his second long ball of the inning.

The blast put Birmingham on top by an 11-5 count, capping the team's most prolific run-scoring inning of the season. Cruz also became just the fifth player in team history to homer twice in the same frame and the first since Jeff Inglin in 1998.

Birmingham's Ryan O'Malley (4-3) allowed a run in the seventh to cut the M-Braves' deficit to 11-6, but neither team would do any further damage.

Barons starter Aaron Poreda was lifted after 3.2 innings of work in which he was touched for four runs (three earned) on six hits. He walked four and struck out five. Kanekoa Texeira, John Lujan, and Joe Torres all tallied scoreless outings from the Birmingham bullpen.

Medlen would eventually be charged with six runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out six and walked two before his departure. Nix was credited with five runs on three hits and a pair of walks while recording just one out.

Negron, Castillo, Cruz, and Valido each recorded three hits apiece for Birmingham, which pounded out 15 hits but allowed 14. Five different M-Braves had multi-hit affairs, paced by J.C. Boscan's three base hits.

At 3:06, the game checked in as the 12th of over three hours this season for the Barons and was just the sixth of regulation innings to last that long. It was the third-longest nine-inning game Birmingham has played this season and became the first of three-plus hours since the team lost a 3:03 game at home to Jacksonville on June 19.

The fourth game of this five-game series is scheduled for Friday night at 7:05 pm. Birmingham right-hander Justin Cassel (7-3) is slated to oppose righty Tommy Hanson (5-3), who no-hit the Barons in Jackson, Miss., on June 25.

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