Shuckers muster two hits in loss to Barons

Three Birmingham pitchers combined on a two-hit shutout Sunday evening as the Barons defeated the Biloxi Shuckers 6-0 at MGM Park.

Gabriel Noriega was the lone bright spot for the Shuckers (48-45, 9-15 second half) in the Southern League contest. He went 2-for-3 with a double.

Joey Michalczewski went 3-for-5 to lead a 10-hit Barons (40-54, 11-13) attack in front of 1,927 fans.

The Shuckers close out the five-game homestand Monday at 7:10 p.m. with the series deadlocked at two games apiece. Then the Shuckers head to Pensacola for the start of a seven-game road trip that back-ends with two games at Mobile.

“We didn’t hit it that well, another tough night,” Biloxi Shuckers manager Mike Guerrero said. “Offensively, there have been a lot of things we’ve been working on but nothing is showing up yet.

“Hopefully, we start to come around. It has been a long year offensively. Hopefully the guys will start making some adjustments at the plate.”

David Holmberg (6-6) picked up the win, pitching six innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts.

Zack Burdi and Colin Kleven completed the shutout, with both pitchers recording two strikeouts.

Jorge Ortega (1-9) took the loss, working 6 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits.

Steve Peterson and Junior Rincon worked in relief.

The Barons struck early for a 2-0 lead.

Courtney Hawkins slammed a solo homer to left with two outs in the first inning.

In the third inning, Hunter Jones led off with a double to right-center, his first hit as a Baron since being called up from Class A Winston-Salem. After Eddy Alvarez moved him to third with a groundout, Joey DeMichele hit a sacrifice fly to right for a 2-0 lead.

The Barons added two more runs in the fifth. Keenyn Walker reached on a one-out throwing error by the shortstop. Jones smashed a double to left center to score Walker. Then one out later, DeMichele’s grounder down the first base line became an error as Jones scored.

Jones hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and the Barons tallied their final run on a bases-loaded walk by DeMichele in the ninth.

Guerrero indicated Brooks Hall could get the start in Monday’s series finale.

This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Shuckers muster two hits in loss to Barons."