Braves fall late to Barons

Published 10:24 am Friday, June 17, 2016

Birmingham, Ala. — The Mississippi Braves managed just two hits on Thursday night in Birmingham, falling to the Barons 5-2 at Regions Field in front of 7,148 fans.
Mississippi (32-34) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second off starter Jordan Guerrero without the benefit of a hit.  Guerrero walked Dustin Peterson, extending his on-base streak to 15 games, then hit Jacob Schrader and walked Carlos Franco to load the bases.

Guerrero got the next two batters out on a foul pop and a strikeout, but he walked Johan Camargo and Mel Rojas Jr to drive in a run each.  The inning ended with four walks and a hit batter, but no hits.
Birmingham (28-39) bounced back against Victor Mateo (0-2) in the bottom of the second to pull it to 2-1.  Trey Michalczewski started the inning with a double, took third on a lineout to right and came home to score on a Courtney Hawkins groundout.

The Barons tied the game in the fourth, 2-2.  Jake Peter doubled to lead off the inning, and Mateo walked Eudy Pina and Michalczewski to load the bases.  Keon Barnum singled on a flare to center to drive home Peter to tie the game.

Mississippi didn’t pick up a hit until the sixth inning when Jacob Schrader doubled to left.  Guerrero allowed just two runs on two hits over six innings, walking five and striking out seven in a no-decision.
The only other hit Mississippi managed was a single by Peterson in the 8th to grow his hit streak to 12 games.

Mateo took the loss, allowing three runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out four and walking three.
Birmingham broke through in the seventh.  Former Brave Marcus Lemon doubled to chase Mateo and bring in David Peterson in relief.  Peterson allowed a single to Adam Engel and walk to Joey DeMichele to load the bases, setting up a Peter sacrifice fly to center for a 3-2 lead.

The Barons added two more runs in the eighth to pull away.  Michaelczewski singled to lead off, and Jeremy Dowdy drove him in with a double.  Lemon followed with a triple to drive in another to make it 5-2.
James Dykstra (2-2) picked up the win in relief, going three innings of two-hit shutout baseball.

Birmingham finished with seven extra base hits of 10 total.

The Braves and Barons square off in the third game of a five-game series on Friday night at 7:05 PM CT, with the Braves sending left-hander Jed Bradley (1-1, 5.79) to the hill against Barons right-hander Brandon Brennan. (1-3, 11.51)