Barons steal one from Stars

By Aaron Morse

The Huntsville Stars (28-26, 61-63) smacked a season-high nine doubles but it wasn’t enough as the Birmingham Barons (22-32, 46-78) came back from eight runs down to beat the Stars 11-10 Friday night.

The two teams combined for 13 doubles, the most ever in one game in Southern League history.

With the loss the Stars stay 2.5 games back of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx for the Wild Card play-off bid. They also remain six games back of the Tennessee Smokies in the north division.

They gave plenty of run support to Amaury Rivas who did not have his A-game. The right-hander gave up five runs (all earned) over his five innings of work. He surrendered nine hits, walked two and struck-out three.

The Stars had no problem hitting Barons starter Kyle McCullough. They scored four runs in the first inning. Lee Haydel got things going with a single to right. After Brett Lawrie smacked his team-leading 35th double of the year, Zelous Wheeler drew a walk. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Drew Anderson singled sharply to right field, scoring Haydel and moving everyone else up 90 feet. A Chris Nowak RBI grounder made the score 2-0. Then with two down, Andy Machado continued his recent hot hitting with a two-RBI double to extend the lead to 4-0.

They seemingly put the game out of reach when they scored four more runs in the top of the third. With two outs and nobody on, the Stars unleashed an incredible five consecutive doubles to take an 8-0 lead.

Birmingham got two runs back in the bottom of the frame on a two-RBI single from Josh Phegley, but the Stars still had a comfortable 8-2 advantage.

A Caleb Gindl RBI double in the fifth made the score 9-2. However, the Barons managed to plate three against Rivas in the bottom of the frame.

A four run lead became a five run lead in the seventh when Gindl hit his third double of the night to drive in Taylor Green.

All seemed well until the bottom of the eighth when the Stars managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Reliever Jim Henderson issued back-to-back walks to start the inning. Tyler Kuhn followed with a RBI double to make the score 10-6 and put runners on second and third with nobody out. A RBI grounder from Eduardo Escobar was the end of Henderson’s outing as Jeremy Jeffress (1-1) came on in relief. He was greeted with an infield single, putting runners at the corners. Jeffress was his own worst enemy as he threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt to first, allowing another Barons’ run to score. He then had control problems, walking Christian Marrero and hitting Phegley with a pitch to load the bases. The Stars’ defense let Jeffress down at that point as a chopper to first base off the bat of Cole Armstrong resulted in a throwing error by Chris Nowak as he attempted to get the runner at the plate. Two runs scored and the game was tied at ten. C.J. Retherford provided the eventual game winning hit as he singled to left to drive in Phegley and give the Barons the 11-10 lead.

Anthony Carter worked another 1-2-3 ninth to get his second save in as many days and his 21st of the season. Kyle Bellamy (1-2) picked up the win in relief for the Barons.

The Stars will look to even the series Saturday evening as they send Andre Lamontagne to the hill. You can hear all the action beginning at 6:15 p.m. central time on the Stars Radio Network.