Barons Get the 6-3 Win at Smokies

Brooks Baldwin had three hits with a home run to lead the Birmingham Barons to a 6-3 win against the Tennessee Smokies before 6,902 at Smokies Stadium on Saturday night. Edgar Quero hit his ninth home run with two hits and two RBIs in the road win.

Barons starting pitcher LHP Noah Schultz pitched four innings, giving up only three hits, one earned run with no walks, and two strikeouts. Winning pitcher Mason Adams came in the fifth inning and went the distance in five innings, giving up nine hits, two earned runs, and one walk with five strikeouts.

The Barons scored first in the game at the top of the first inning when Baldwin hit his fourth home run of the season on a deep fly ball to right field. The Barons took an early 1-0 lead. Tennessee came right back with an RBI single by Luis Verdugo. The game was tied at 1-1.

In the top of the fifth inning, Terrell Tatum singled to left field, and Jacob Gonzalez singled to left field, putting two Barons runners on for Baldwin. The shortstop doubled off the right field wall, scoring Tatum. Quero's RBI single to right field scored Gonzalez. Tim Elko's single to right field scores Baldwin, and the Barons take a 4-1 lead. The Barons get one more run on a Smokies wild pitch, scoring Quero, and the Barons led 5-1.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Christian Franklin's RBI single scored Verdugo, and the Smokies trimmed the lead to 5-2. In the top of the seventh inning, Quero hits his ninth run of the season on a fly ball to right field, and the Barons led 6-2. In the bottom of the ninth inning, an RBI single by Moises Ballesteros scored Ezequiel Pagan, making it a 6-3 Barons lead.

Tatum had two hits and a run scored, Elko had two hits and an RBI, Wilfred Veras had a single and a stolen base. With the win, the Barons up their lead on the Smokies to a 3.0 game lead in the Northern Division. Next, the Barons play game six of the six-game series with Tennessee, and LHP Ky Bush (4-2, 2.18) will take the mound for the Barons.