Hagen Smith made a couple of different debuts on Saturday in Birmingham -- his first Double-A start, and his first start without any hard preconceived notions of when his evening would come to an end.
He ended up lasting only four innings and 73 pitches due to some control problems leading to a laborious first two innings, but because he wasn't limited to three innings, he was able to finish his night by striking out the last six he faced, rather than the last three.
I'll go into greater detail about Smith's night when I'm back from Birmingham. For a change of pace, here's Braden Montgomery's first professional homer, because Omar Narváez and Oscar Colás combined to drive in all four Barons runs, and that wasn't quite cutting it for me.
Norfolk 3, Charlotte 2
- Edgar Quero went 1-for-4 with a K.
- Kyle Teel, 0-for-2 with two walks.
- Tim Elko went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.
- Colson Montgomery was 0-for-4 with a K.
- Jairo Iriarte: 4 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 45 of 85 pitches for strikes.
Knoxville 6, Birmingham 4
- William Bergolla was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Jacob Gonzalez, 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- DJ Gladney singled thrice and struck out twice.
- Wilfred Veras was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
- Hagen Smith's Double-A debut: 4 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 10 K, 1 WP, 1 HBP, 43 of 73 pitches for strikes.
Winston-Salem 16, Rome 6
- Sam Antonacci went 2-for-5 with a strikeout and an HBP.
- Ryan Galanie drove in six while coming up a double short of the cycle.
- Jeral Perez came a triple shy of the cycle on a 3-for-4 night, walking twice and striking out once.
- Samuel Zavala walked four times and struck out twice.
- Lucas Gordon: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 41 of 71 pitches for strikes.
Hickory 6, Kannapolis 5
- Nick McLain went 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
- Caleb Bonemer singled, walked twice and struck out once.
- Braden Montgomery was 2-for-4 with his first pro homer, along with a strikeout and a stolen base.
- George Wolkow hit a sac fly and struck out thrice.
- Lyle Miller-Green went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Casey Saucke wore the golden sombrero.
- Javier Mogollon has an .875 OBP after going 0-for-1 with two walks and an HBP.
- Luis Reyes: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
- Blake Shepardson's pro debut: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 6 of 20 pitches for strikes.
