Prior to his MLB team's game against Houston Tuesday night, White Sox GM Chris Getz talked up the Birmingham Barons as they sought to close out a first-half championship in the Southern League's Northern division.
"There’s always great benefit for our players to experience chasing a championship at the minor league level and this week, in Birmingham, it’s going to be an exciting week. They are facing an opponent also battling for first place in their division. And you know, we’ve got Iriarte throwing tonight at Birmingham and look forward to seeing how it unfolds this week for that club."
It sounded a little less like silver lining and more like a distraction from all the more pressing and unpleasant questions, and if Getz was indeed saying "Look over there!", Jairo Iriarte came out saying, "Look somewhere else!"
Iriarte did not have his command at Rickwood Field, at least over the first two innings. He gave up two in the first and three in the second, and if anything, luck was on his side. He allowed an array of line drives, plunked the No. 9 hitter and walked in a run, and the second inning could've been worse, but Bob Seymour's bases-loaded rocket rattled in and out of Tim Elko's glove.
Had Elko caught it, it would've merely secured the first out. Because it hit the ground while the runner dived back into first, it set off one of those confusing sequences where a runner is standing on a bag with a runner coming up behind him, and the guy with the ball is tagging every person and base and hoping he got the sequence right. Elko did.
That gave Iriarte some sorely needed footing, and after the umpires conferred to confirm the double play call, Iriarte got a flyout to end the inning. When he came back out for the third, he struck out the side on 12 pitches, and he and Edgar Quero high-fived on the field before returning to the dugout. He made it through his next three innings unscathed as well. I wouldn't argue that he pitched better than his line, but he started locating his slider and stopped being the guy he was in the first two innings, and that counts for something.
It just doesn't count as a win, because the Barons ended up losing to the Biscuits, 6-5, when Elko grounded into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded. Meanwhile, the Tennesse Smokies won, so they now trail the Barons by 1½ games.
Other observations:
Edgar Quero: Went 5-for-5 with two doubles, raising his line to .285/.367/.481, because he's hitting .482 in June. Better yet, one of his doubles would've been a homer in most parks, but Rickwood Field has a higher right field wall. The only thing that kept it from being a perfect night offensively was his very, very unsuccessful attempt to score on a pitch in the dirt with two outs in the sixth. When Quero started running, I let out an audible "oh no," and Montgomery's catcher recovered it and tagged out Quero himself well in front of home plate.
Wilfred Veras: I've called him a poor man's Eloy Jiménez before, and unfortunately he's doing that thing the real Jiménez does, where he hits first pitches into the ground.
Andrew Dalquist: I've been keeping an eye on Dalquist's conversion to relief, because the ERA Is good (2.00), but with 12 walks against 17 strikeouts over 18 innings, it seems like a product of a strong Barons rotation creating favorable situations for relievers. Dalquist reinforced that notion by walking two of the four batters he faced to leave the bases loaded for Jake Palish to clean up, and a sac fly gave the Biscuits an insurance run that decided the game.
Charlotte 4, Gwinnett 3
- Colson Montgomery was 1-for-4 with a homer.
- Bryan Ramos and Zach DeLoach both were 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Mike Clevinger: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 37 of 55 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Montgomery's homer tied the game in the ninth inning.
Montgomery 6, Birmingham 5
- Terrell Tatum went 2-for-5 with a double and a strikeout.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 0-for-3 with a walk, strikeout, sac fly and stolen base.
- Brooks Baldwin was 1-for-3 with a walk, sac fly and a strikeout.
- Edgar Quero had an Arby's night: 5-for-5 with two doubles.
- Tim Elko was 1-for-4 with an HBP and a strikeout.
- Wilfred Veras was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jacob Burke, 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Jairo Iriarte: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HBP
Winston-Salem 7, Asheville 1
- Samuel Zavala went 1-for-3 with a homer and two walks.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Ryan Galanie went 0-for-4 with an HBP and two strikeouts.
- Calvin Harris was 2-for-5 and a strikeout.
- Wes Kath went 3-for-5 with a double.
- Eddie Park was 0-for-4 with a K.
- Loidel Chapelli singled, walked twice, struck out once and stole a base.
Myrtle Beach 5, Winston-Salem 4
- Rikuu Nishida went 2-for-5.
- George Wolkow wore the golden sombrero.
- Ryan Burrowes singled twice, walked and struck out.
ACL White Sox 9, ACL Giants 7 (10 innings)
- Javier Mogollon went 2-for-5 with a double, HBP, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Eloy Jiménez was 2-for-2 with a walk.
- Adrian Gil went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Angelo Hernandez, 2-for-4 with a double, HBP and a strikeout.
- Abraham Nunez was 0-for-4 with a walk and three strikeouts.
- Stiven Flores, 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
- Cory Knebel: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
DSL Cubs Blue 11, DSL White Sox 4 (7 innings)
- Christian Gonzalez went 1-for-3 with a walk, and was picked off.
- Jehancarlos Mendez was 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jurdrick Profar, 1-for-3 with a double, walk, strikeout and stolen base.
- Eduardo Herrera was 1-for-4 with a triple and a strikeout.
- Jesus Premoli, 1-for-3 with a K.
- Yhoiker Fajardo: 3.1 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
