Record
4-2 (August 27-September 1)
67-59 (overall, 3rd place of 8)
26-31 (second half, 6th place of 8)

The Barons wound up with the series win, taking four of six against the Chattanooga Lookouts. Noah Schultz and Tyler Schweitzer had great outings on the mound, and Schultz added another seven K’s to the mix in his four innings on Saturday.

In other Birmingham news, Jairo Iriarte was promoted to the big league club on Sunday — though I’m not certain that’s truly a “promotion” when the Barons pitching looks a heck of a lot better than the White Sox.

DJ Gladney and Wilfred Veras outperformed the rest of the lineup offensively, with Gladney posting a 1.074 OPS over the last seven days and Veras driving in the most runs (six).

August 27: Birmingham Barons 3, Chattanooga Lookouts 2 (10 innings)
The Barons started off relatively strong offensively against Chattanooga, scoring two runs early in the top of the second thanks to an RBI single from Jacob Gonzalez and a double from Shawn Goosenberg to score the second run. Birmingham outhit the Lookouts, 8-4, but still the game remained tied for the last three innings.

On the other side of the ball, Tyler Schweitzer was highly efficient for six innings for Birmingham, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits, and striking out two batters. He went for five scoreless, but a throwing error from Goosenberg led to a two-run inning to tie the game at two.

Caleb Freeman and Zach Franklin combined for four innings of one-hit ball, striking out five between the two of them. As the offense struggled to push the go-ahead across the plate, they finally did so in the top of the 10th — on a wild pitch nonetheless. Barons take the series opener!

Game MVPs
Tyler Schweitzer (SP) 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Caleb Freeman (RHRP) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Zach Franklin (RHRP) 2 IP, H, 0 R, 3 K

August 28: Birmingham Barons 7, Chattanooga Lookouts 1
The Barons offense racked up 10 hits as a team on Wednesday, which was only two more than their opponents. However, they were able to outscore the Lookouts by six runs. Wilfred Veras (1-for-4, HR, R, RBI) kicked off the scoring with a solo bomb in the first, and DJ Gladney hopped on the homer train mashing one each in the top of the fourth AND sixth innings.

There’s one thing you can usually count on with the Barons, and that is that the pitching is solid. Riley Gowens had a longer start this time around, and only gave up one run on six hits across his five innings. Just as they were the night before, the bullpen was completely lights-out. Jake Palish (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, K) and Peyton Pallette were just what Birmingham needed to hold the lead, and Pallette struck out four of his six outs recorded.

Birmingham added an additional three runs of support in the last inning, with Eric Adler closing things out to seal the win.

Game MVPs
Riley Gowens (SP) 5 IP, 6 H, R, 0 BB, 3 K, WIN
DJ Gladney (LF) 3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, K
Peyton Pallette (RHRP) 2 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

August 29: Birmingham Barons 10, Chattanooga Lookouts 6
In what ends up as his final 2024 start for the Barons, Jairo Iriarte (6 IP, 8 H, 5 R/4 ER, BB, 6 K, WIN) didn’t have his best stuff by any means, but the offense backed him up enough to earn the win. Iriarte packs up and heads to the South Side with a 3.71 ERA and organization-high 126 innings pitched, all in Double-A.

Once again, Birmingham’s bats were able to compete with Chattanooga’s no problem, besting the Lookouts by three hits (13 compared to 10). Canaan Smith-Njigba and Wilfred Veras combined for four hits and six of the Barons 10 RBIs. Veras once again got the Barons going in the first inning, blasting his 16th home run of the season, before both him and Smith-Njigba piled on with RBI doubles just a few innings later.

Tristan Stivors allowed one more run for the Lookouts, but he and Garrett Schoenle had the run support needed to finish out the final three innings to get the third straight win of the series.

Game MVPs
Wilfred Veras (RF) 2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB
Canaan Smith-Njigba (LF) 2-for-6, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K
Jason Matthews (3B) 3-for-5, RBI, K

August 30: Chattanooga Lookouts 2, Birmingham Barons 1
The Friday night end-of-month feature was a pitchers’ duel, and although he would be given the loss, Juan Carela did go for five solid innings, giving up four hits and two runs while striking out a whopping eight Chattanooga batters. Same old song for this game, as the bullpen was as efficient as ever, combining for three hits but striking out two each in the final three innings.

This was the first game that Birmingham didn’t outhit the Lookouts, and they certainly paid for it. Five hits sprinkled throughout the lineup, four ended up stuck on base. The only run scored was an RBI double from … you guessed it: Wilfred Veras.

Birmingham put the tying run on base with a Mario Camilletti walk in the top of the eighth, but shortly after he got caught stealing second to end the inning.

Game MVPs
Wilfred Veras (DH) 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, K
Juan Carela (SP) 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K
Bullpen 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K

August 31: Birmingham Barons 5, Chattanooga Lookouts 2
I feel as if I sound like a broken record every time I’m reporting on a Noah Schultz start, but he once again was able to shut down his opponents for four excellent innings. He gave up just one hit and put another two batters on base from walks, but he struck out seven batters, 58% of all of his outs. Schultz continues to impress, and now sits at a 1.35 ERA with the Barons.

Chase Plymell (2 IP, 4 H, 2 R/1 ER, BB, K) would end up vulturing the win, swooping in at a great spot after Schultz set the stage. Peyton Pallette struck out another three batters in his two innings, and Eric Adler (1 IP, 0 H, BB, 3 K) was awarded with the save. This is a pretty sweet pitching staff, top to bottom!

Chattanooga netted out with one more hit than the Barons, who struggled to convert with RISP (1-for-12 as a team), and also left nine on base. That didn’t matter in the end, as Birmingham would walk away with the win.

Game MVPs
Noah Schultz (SP) 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K
Wilfred Veras (RF) 1-for-4, RBI, BB, 2 K
Shawn Goosenberg (1B) 1-for-4, R, RBI, K

September 1: Chattanooga Lookouts 1, Birmingham Barons 0
It was a tough game to lose, especially with the pitching being as solid as it was. Tyler Schweitzer made his second start of the week, and was even better than in his first. Four hits in six innings, accompanied by zero walks and three K’s was the perfect way to start the game for the Barons, but the offense keeled over one day too soon.

The only run that Chattanooga scored was a solo homer off of Caleb Freeman (1 IP, H, HR, R, 2 K) in the bottom of the seventh. This shouldn’t have been the deciding factor of the game, but when you can’t muster up more than one hit as a team, there’s a very unlikely chance you will win the ball game. That one hit was from Jacob Gonzalez in the top of the second, and he and his colleagues couldn’t figure anything out for another seven innings.

The Barons ended up taking the series, but this wasn’t a pretty way to go out.

Game MVP
Tyler Schweitzer (SP) 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K

Seven-Day Hitting

Seven-Day Pitching