Record
0-6 (last week)
52-50 (overall)
11-22 (second half)

The Barons rode the struggle bus last week, and have been on that road most of the second half. In the past six games against the Montgomery Biscuits, Birmingham was outhit, 49-23 — and outscored, 28-4! The most Birmingham scored in a game was two runs (both off wild pitches), were shutout in three games, and even lost the series opener in extras. Yep, everything seemed to go downhill from there.

The stats prove it was a rough one, too – as the top offensive performer for Birmingham in terms of OPS was Jacob Burke (.721), whose slash line was, uh, .182/.357/.364. Adam Hackenberg owned the best batting average, and he only hit .222. I won’t harp on it any longer, it was just not very good, my friends.

The pitching was really hit-or-miss for the Barons, as they averaged giving up nearly five runs per game. We did still see strong performances from Noah Schultz, Jairo Iriarte, and Mason Adams, however!

July 30: Montgomery Biscuits 2, Birmingham Barons 1 (10 innings)
The Barons scored quickly in the first inning to take a one-run lead. The first run was manufactured by Terrell Tatum, who singled to lead off the game, stole second, and then scored on a single by Wilfred Veras. Sadly, that was the lone run the Barons would score the rest of the game.

The Biscuits tied the game in the second inning, the only run scored off of Tyler Schweitzer, and the only run they would score in the first nine innings.

Birmingham went three-up, three-down in the 10th inning, going completely flat after the first. In the bottom half of the inning, Gil Luna put a runner on third base after a wild pitch, and the winning run would score for Montgomery in the next at-bat.

Game MVP
Tyler Schweitzer (SP) 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K

July 31: Montgomery Biscuits 9, Birmingham Barons 0
The Biscuits teed off on Riley Gowens (4 IP, 9 H, HR, 7 R, 3 BB, 5 K, LOSS), who had a particularly rough outing, giving up three and four runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively. Montgomery was speeding around the bases as well, racking up five stolen bases with the Gowens and Adam Hackenberg battery – not great.

In relief of Gowens, Garrett Schoenle came in for the next three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out four. He remains a key piece to the bullpen, with a 2.23 ERA on the year.

Schoenle deals 4 Ks allowing no runs through 3 innings 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/kaYCfPCV0d

— Birmingham Barons (@BhamBarons) August 1, 2024

Offensively, the Barons couldn’t make anything happen, and only two players even got a hit: Terrell Tatum and Alsander Womack. Otherwise, the team went 0-for-5 and left five on base as a team.

Game MVP
Garrett Schoenle (LHRP) 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

August 1: Montgomery Biscuits 4, Birmingham Barons 2
Yet another tough loss for the Barons, especially after an efficient one-run outing from Jairo Iriarte (6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 K), who performed pretty well for having such a hard time with his control.

The wheels fell off in the seventh with the Biscuits tagged Jake Palish for three runs, increasing the Montgomery lead to four.

Once again for Birmingham, there was no run support whatsoever. After three days, the Barons hadn’t scored a run in 23 innings – since the first inning of the series on July 30. The kicker is that they did finally score on Thursday, but both runs were scored off of wild pitches. I repeat: there were once again zero RBIs in this game.

Game MVP
Jairo Iriarte (SP) 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 K

August 2: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Birmingham Barons 1
Since the offense had already been dead the majority of the week, pitching was the name of the game on Friday as well. Unfortunately, it was another wasted efficient Mason Adams start, as the Barons were only able to drive in one run. Adams continues to show his ability to strike batters out and minimize the amount of runs that are scored, and batters are only batting .236 against him all season.

Both pitchers out of the bullpen (Jordan Mikel and Gil Luna) gave up runs, so either way, the Barons were going to have to work to close the gap.

Of course, they did not close the gap. There is some good news, however; the RBI-streak was broken, finally being snapped at over 30 innings after a Shawn Goosenberg RBI on a fielder’s choice … we’ll take it. The bad news is that that was the end of the offense, Birmingham otherwise went 0-for-6 as a team and left seven on base, losing four straight.

Game MVP
Mason Adams (SP) 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, BB, 8 K, LOSS

August 3: Montgomery Biscuits 3, Birmingham Barons 0
Once again, the offense was nowhere to be found, getting shut out for the second time in the series, 3-0. The main story, though, was that lefthander Noah Schultz, had yet another great start, giving up just one hit in his 3 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out five.

In his 10 starts for Birmingham, his 1.64 ERA is curre​​ntly the best of all regular Birmingham starters now that Drew Thorpe has been called up to the big leagues – and he has only given up three runs (two earned) in his last four starts.

Chase Plymell (3 1/3 IP, 2 H, R, 3 K) also had a pretty decent outing, and Dalton Roach followed him up with a scoreless eighth, but the offense couldn’t produce and the Barons gave up another 2 runs in the ninth with Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa on the mound. In 32 1/3 IP, Hoopii-Tuionetoa has been otherwise solid for the Barons, holding a 1.93 ERA and racking up 36 strikeouts.

Game MVP
Noah Schultz (SP) 3 2/3 IP, H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K

August 4: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Birmingham Barons 0
The Barons got shut out for the second night in a row on Sunday – the third time this series. The Birmingham offense had a hard time at the plate, with the only three hits stemming from Mario Camilletti, Michael Turner, and Adam Hackenberg.

Montgomery got off to a slow start offensively, but ended up with 13 hits as a team. 10 of those hits were against Birmingham starter, Tyler Schweitzer, including two homers, two triples, and two doubles. All five runs were accredited to Schweitzer, and he also had eight strikeouts in his 5 2/3 innings.

The bullpen did their jobs – they gave up just three combined hits, and didn’t give up a run, but the offense left them hanging as the Barons had already dug themselves into a hole, unable to avoid the sweep.

Game MVP(s)
Barons Bullpen (RHRPs Andrew Dalquist and Caleb Freeman, LHRP Jack Palisch) 3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K

SEVEN-DAY HITTING

SEVEN-DAY PITCHING

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Jairo Iriarte photo by S.R. Silver/Sox Populi