Mudcats rally past Barons
By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on June 18, 2006 2:19 AM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Ñ One out away from a disheartening loss, Carolina scored three times with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Birmingham Barons 5-3 on Friday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Five-year Baron Jonathan Aceves battled former battery-mate Brian West (2-5) for six pitches before doubling home the tying run on CarolinaÕs potential final swing, then chugged around to score the leading run on a groundball single to center by J.C. Muniz as the Mudcats (32-37) clinched a resounding win. Brett Carroll, who doused a Baron runner at home plate on a centerfield throw in the sixth, followed with a run-scoring triple to push the lead to 5-3.
The Mudcats let a 2-1 lead slip away in the bottom of the eighth after third baseman Edgar Gonzalez threw away a force-attempt with two outs to allow Chris Getz to sprint in from first base to tie the game. Darren Blakely then singled home Corey Smith for a 3-2 Barons lead.
The Gonzalez miscue was trumped in the Carolina ninth, whose rally was started by a severe misplay by outfielders Michael Myers and Ricardo Nanita. Nanita apparently called off Myers approach on a flyball into right-center from Ryan Bear with one out and none on. When Myers halted, so did Nanita and the ball dropped in between for a double. The three-run, two-out Mudcats rally would start one batter later.
Jose Garcia earned a no-decision in his second Double-A start, pitching 6 1/3 innings, allowing only a first inning homer to Nanita. Christopher Young (4-2), who stranded two Garcia baserunners in the seventh, was nearly charged with the loss for his two unearned runs in the eighth, but earned the victory with CarolinaÕs charge.
Tyler Lumsden, the 2004 first-round pick of the White Sox, allowed two unearned runs over eight innings for the Barons (30-39).
The first half concluded on Saturday night with Adam Bostick (4-4, 4.31) starting against Corwin Malone (5-5, 4.17)
