This one is a little different …
Birmingham‘s Alejandro Pena came into the game on a bit of a roll, having improved his numbers to a record of 3-3 and an ERA of 3.35. Homestead‘s Corey Kluber was just trying to stay in the league, with a record of 0-6 and an ERA over 6.
Kluber lasted only 2 innings before injury forced him from the game. He had given up one unearned run when, in the top of the first, an error by Mike Epstein allowed Tom Herr to score. Carlos Zambrano who, if anything, has been hit harder than Kluber, relieved him.
Pena allowed a run in the bottom of the 3rd and the bottom of the 4th on a sacrifice fly from Andrew McCutcheon and a bases-loaded walk to Honus Wagner that scored Josh Gibson.
So, 2-1 Homestead after 4 innings.
And then … that was it.
Pena put in 8 innings, allowing 6 hits and the 2 runs (only 1 was earned), and the combination of Kluber, Zambrano, Billy Pierce, and Michael Jackson had kept Birmingham from scoring again.
Homestead’s closer, Josh Lindblom, came into the game in the top of the 9th to close out the impressive win … and, after getting the first out, gave up a single to Billy Southworth, a walk to Troy Tulowitzki, a single to Herr, and a sacrifice fly to Frank McCormick, tying the game.
And then … that was it. For a long time, that was it.
For Birmingham, Wilhelm added 2 more innings, closer Carlos Diaz followed with 2 more, and Larry Benton added 3. For Homestead, Kent Tekulve added 2.2 and then Hal Carlson stepped in with the bullpen deeply depleted and delivered 4 crucial innings.
All scoreless. Through the 12th, scoreless. Through the 16th, scoreless. Through the 18th, scoreless.
And then … that was it.
Earl Hamilton had followed Carlson, and held Birmingham scoreless for 1.2 innings. He took the mound in the top of the 19th, and induced a groundout from Hank Aaron.
But then the floodgates opened: Omar Infante doubled, Southworth singled, and Tulowitzki broke the tie with an RBI single. Herr singled to load the bases, and McCormick walked. Then the Black Barons really took control, with Frank Isbell doubling home 2 more runs.
With Hamilton clearly gassed, the Grays called on Ray Brown, who got out of the inning, but not before allowing RBI singles to Gene Tenace, Eddie Mathews, and Infante.
So, inning after inning of no offense and then, in the top of the 19th, 7 runs for Birmingham.
It was enough: Warren Spahn retired the side in order and the Black Barons left with the win, 9-2. Honestly, Birmingham deserved to win much earlier: they banged out 28 hits during the 19 innings, with Herr and Isbell each going 5-for-10, Aaron adding 4 hits, and Infante and Southworth 3 hits apiece. But 24 of their 28 hits were singles: the Black Barons left a whopping 23 batters on base in the game.
Homestead had only 10 hits on the day, with 3 of them coming off the bat of Rick Reichardt. All 10 were singles, and the Grays had their own struggles with timing base knocks, leaving 14 runners on base.
A remarkable, and totally unexpected pitching performance from Birmingham. Even with that, both teams bullpens are likely to suffer for a few games from this one.
BBB 9 (Spahn 2-4) @ HOM 2 (Hamilton 0-1; Jackson 2 H; Lindblom 2 BS) [19 Innings]
HRs: none
Box Score
