The Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate embarked on the journey to win their first Southern League championship since 2013, and ended up dropping the opener to the Tennessee Smokies, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. A classic Crosstown showdown — just placed in the south.

Birmingham had a great first half, finishing first overall (41-28) and one game ahead of the Smokies. However, the Barons struggled much more in the second half, ending with a 31-38 record, 16 games behind Tennessee and fourth overall. The offense was a big culprit of Birmingham’s decline, as they ended the first half with a +69 run differential, the second at -7. Additionally, so many players moved throughout the system this year, and that roster flux gave manager Sergio Santos and his staff their hands full.

The Smokies, on the other hand, were strong in the first half and only seemed to pick up momentum as the year went on — finishing the second half 6 1/2 games in the lead.

Juan Carela made the series start for Birmingham, and he had a passable outing, giving up three runs (just two earned) off of five hits across five innings — he also walked two and struck out four. The Smokies put up a pair of singles and stolen bases in the second to score the first run of the game, though Carela dug himself into a small hole in the third: He hit the leadoff batter, walked the next, then struck out two more Tennesseeans before giving up a single to score the second run of the game.

THE SMOKIES STRIKE FIRST! #LastYearBestYear #Back2BackInKodak #NextStopWrigley pic.twitter.com/loZv2UDQOT

— Tennessee Smokies (@smokiesbaseball) September 17, 2024

A throwing error for the Barons from Jason Matthews at shortstop led to the unearned run in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Smokies at three-run lead by scoring one in three consecutive innings. The leap from a two-run lead shouldn’t have felt dire, but Birmingham’s bats were simply not sparking. In fact, they did the opposite, as the Barons struck out a whopping 18 times as a team on Tuesday. Tennessee’s right-handed starter, Antonio Santos, carved up the Barons, striking out 10 across his 4 2/3 innings.

Baseball continues to be a strange sport, because even with all of those strikeouts, the Barons actually out-hit the Smokies, 8-7. The difference was, however, was Tennessee figured out how to drive a few in,  whereas Birmingham went 0-for-11 with RISP … and they also left 12 on base. It certainly wasn’t for a lack of opportunity — outside of the first and seventh innings when the Barons went down in order, they were somehow able to get at least one baserunner on every other inning.

Ending the shutout in the top of the sixth, the lone run scored for the Barons was a solo shot from third baseman Nick Podkul. Podkul was the true offensive MVP on the day, and he was the only Birmingham batter with a multi-hit game or an extra base hit. In another feat, Terrell Tatum was the only starter who did not record a strikeout … yikes to the rest of the team. Tatum was 1-for-2 with two walks, so not bad at all when looking at the rest of the atrocious offensive performance.

Zach Franklin and Peyton Pallette came out of the bullpen strong to relieve Carela, with Franklin putting up a hitless sixth inning while recording a walk and a strikeout. Pallette was at the helm for the final two innings, giving up two hits but striking out four batters. One of these guys deserved a win, but the offense continued to perish throughout the last few innings.

The Barons couldn’t get anything going in the seventh, but they loaded the bases in the top of the eighth after Podkul singled, Michael Turner was hit by a pitch, and Tatum walked. Shawn Goosenberg came up and whiffed for the second out, then the Smokies brought in righthander Blake Whitney, who forced Jacob Gonzalez to pop out and end the inning.

Birmingham fell (somehow) even more flat in the top of the ninth, as Rikuu Nishida grounded out and Mario Camilletti struck out to quickly turn the situation dire. Wilfred Veras attempted to start a rally by walking to extend the game, but DJ Gladney struck out for the fourth time of the night to end the game.

Game 2 will be Thursday, at home in Birmingham, which hopefully delivers a more positive outcome for the Barons by forcing a Game 3 on Friday.

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Juan Carela photo: Birmingham Barons