Stars beat the rain and the Barons

By Aaron Morse

A wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth scored Brett Lawrie and the rains came right after that as the Huntsville Stars (24-26) beat the Birmingham Barons (17-32) by a final score of 6-5 in six innings Sunday afternoon.

On a cloudy day at “The Joe”, the Stars took the early lead in the bottom of the first against Barons’ starter Charles Shirek. Brett Lawrie, batting lead-off, singled to start the game. A Caleb Gindl ground-out moved Lawrie to second and with two away Mat Gamel singled him home for the 1-0 advantage.

Lawrie would be in the thick of things in the second inning. With one away Lee Haydel drew a walk. After Martin Maldonado singled, Lawrie crushed his league-leading eighth triple of the year to clear the bases. Lorenzo Cain followed that up with a RBI single and the Stars grabbed a 4-0 lead.

Josh Butler, on a rehab assignment from the Brewers, pitched four shutout innings to start the game. He scattered four hits, walked one, and struck-out three.

Chris Cody, normally a starter, was called upon to pitch the fifth inning. It did not go well as the Barons loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. With two away and the bases juiced, Christian Marrero singled to right to drive in two and chase Cody from the game. Jim Henderson entered and got the final out of the frame.

The Stars extended the lead to 5-2 on a Haydel RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.

But in the top of the sixth Henderson could not find the strike zone as he walked the first two hitters of the inning. Robert Hinton relieved him and walked the first man he faced to load the bases. A fielder’s choice got the runner at second, but allowed a run to score. Back-to-back singles off the bats of Jim Gallagher and Brent Morel tied the game at five. Hinton got a fly-out and a ground-out to end the inning with no further damage.

With the rains threatening in the bottom of the sixth, Martin Maldonado was hit by a pitch by new pitcher Tyson Corley. Lawrie reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second base as Cain struck-out. Caleb Gindl drew a walk and Corley uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Lawrie to advance to third. Then another wild pitch from Corley brought Lawrie home and gave the Stars a 6-5 lead.

The inning would end without any further runs crossing the plate, but at that point the skies opened and the rain forced them to go into a delay. After awhile, the game was declared over and the Stars got a much-needed win.

Hinton (1-2) got the win while Corley (0-3) suffered the loss. Lawrie had a huge day, going 2-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. The Stars gain ½ a game on the Smokies, who were rained out, so Huntsville is now 5.5 games out of first.

Huntsville hosts Mobile Monday in a 4pm start. Alex Periard will take the mound.