Birmingham blasts M-Braves again to complete sweep
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 16, 2009
PEARL — The Birmingham Barons are leaving town, and not a moment too soon for the Mississippi Braves.
Dayan Viciedo and Stefan Gartrell each went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as Birmingham finished off an impressive five-game sweep of the M-Braves on Monday at Trustmark Park, 10-0.
It was the first time the M-Braves were swept this season, and their second straight lopsided loss to Birmingham. The Barons outscored the M-Braves 34-6 in the series and had 16 doubles. In all, Birmingham is 8-2 against Mississippi this season.
The Barons return to Trustmark Park for a six-game series starting next Monday, but at least the Braves will have a fresh start. The first half of the Southern League season ends on Sunday. Birmingham clinched the first-half South Division title on Saturday night.
“Every time we go play somebody, I ask who’s tough in the league. The response is always Birmingham,” Braves first baseman Greg Creek said. “Their pitching is very consistent. Every guy throws three pitches for strikes. They don’t make a lot of mistakes defensively, and every mistake you make they hit it hard.”
After winning 9-0 on Sunday, Birmingham (43-20) picked up where it left off on Monday night. Viciedo singled in a run in the top of the first inning, then made it 3-0 with a two-run homer in the third. Javier Colina doubled in another run in the fourth, and a titanic three-run homer by Gartrell onto the berm in left-center field made it 9-0 in the fifth.
The Barons added one final run on David Cook’s double in the ninth to finish the scoring.
Viciedo, Gartrell, Cook and Tyler Flowers, the Nos. 3 through 6 hitters in the Barons’ lineup, were a combined 10-for-16 on Monday with five extra base hits, eight runs scored and nine RBIs.
The M-Braves (30-35), meanwhile, continued to struggle at the plate. The team with the second-fewest hits and the fewest runs in the Southern League has now gone 22 innings without scoring.
Birmingham starter Kyle McCullough threw seven scoreless innings, striking out three and walking none. Jhonny Nunez and Fernando Hernandez each threw one inning of scoreless relief to finish up.
“They can hit and we’re not,” M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman said. “When they score a run every dang inning, that makes it tough with an offense like ours. We have to win games 3-2 with the offense we’ve got.”
The M-Braves will now hit the road for five games at Chattanooga to finish up the first half.
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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com