Last season, Edgar Quero's fifth homer of the year was a walk-off two-run shot in the 10th inning in a victory over the Chattanooga Lookouts.
This season, Quero's fifth homer of the season was a walk-off three-run shot against the Mississippi Braves.
There's just one big difference: Quero's fifth homer of the 2023 season came on Aug. 15, his 83rd game of the season, while his fifth homer of 2024 came on Sunday, just 14 games in.
Quero is hitting .326/.426/.659 with five homers and 19 RBIs over his first 14 games, and he also collected his first non-homer extra-base hit in the form of a two-run double in Game 1. There was reason to believe that Quero would improve upon his respectable but quiet 2023 season because of added experience, physical maturation and a lack of an enhanced-grip ball, but over the first three series of the season, he's cashing in on all of the above.
Birmingham 3, Mississippi 2 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Terrell Tatum, Brooks Baldwin and Tim Elko were 1-for-3.
- So was Edgar Quero, but his hit was a double. He was also caught stealing.
- Jacob Burke struck out in both plate appearance.s
- Jake Eder: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K, 1 WP, 56 of 89 pitches for strikes
Notes:
*Duke Ellis stole his 15th base, but he was also caught for the first time this season.
Birmingham 4, Mississippi 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- Terrell Tatum went 0-for3- with a walk and a strikeout.
- Brooks Baldwin, 2-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- Edgar Quero hit a walk-off three-run homer to cap a 2-for-4 nightcap, striking out once.
- Tim Elko wore the silver sombrero.
- Bryan Ramos also went 0-for-3, with one strikeout.
- Jacob Burke went 0-for-2 with a walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Mason Adams: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 45 of 68 pitches for strikes.
Bowling Green 7, Winston-Salem 4
- Loidel Chapelli went 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Samuel Zavala looked refreshed from the day off, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.
- Jacob Gonzalez went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- DJ Gladney, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
Myrtle Beach 4, Kannapolis 3 (Completion of Saturday's game, 12 innings)
- Rikuu Nishida went 0-for-5 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Ronny Hernandez was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Lucas Gordon: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
