Tanner McDougal's long national nightmare -- or at least Southeastern nightmare -- is over.
After going winless in his 63 appearances after his professional debut in 2021, McDougal finally earned a victorious decision with five shutout innings in Birmingham's 2-1 victory over Knoxville on Sunday.
If this is something that's been weighing on McDougal, then he had to sweat it out to the very end. The Barons led 2-0 entering the ninth inning, before Zach Franklin walked a batter with one out, then allowed a stolen base and RBI single that made it 2-1. The tying run never advanced into scoring position, however, as Franklin struck out pinch-hitting Felix Stevens to end the game.
If McDougal merely treated it as a statistical curiosity, then it's still something. He had been 0-20 over this stretch, including winless careers with Kannapolis (0-6 over 27 starts) and Winston-Salem (0-11 over 29 starts).
Toledo 5, Charlotte 3
- Colson Montgomery had his fourth straight two-homer game (when homering), going 2-for-4.
- Tim Elko doubled, walked and struck out twice.
- Jairo Iriarte: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 17 of 26 pitches for strikes.
Highlights:
*Montgomery's first homer traveled 340 feet at 110.9 mph, and his second one was 371 feet at 104 mph. He finished the series against Toledo 11-for-22 with four homers.
*Evan McKendry threw an immaculate inning in the fifth:
Birmingham 2, Knoxville 1
- Rikuu Nishida went 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- William Bergolla was 2-for-5.
- Ryan Galanie, 1-for-2 with two walks.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 0-for-3 with a walk.
- DJ Gladney, 1-for-4.
- Tanner McDougal: 5 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP, 49 of 83 pitches for strikes.
Greensboro 7, Winston-Salem 0
- Sam Antonacci went 0-for-3 with an HBP.
- Jeral Perez had the Dash's only hit, going 1-for-4 with a K.
- Braden Montgomery went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Samuel Zavala was 0-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout.
Notes:
*Four Winston-Salem pitchers combined to plunk eight batters over eight innings, which makes the one combined walk far less impressive. Best I can tell, the major league record is six HBPs.
Fredericksburg 4, Kannapolis 1
- Javier Mogollón wore the collar and silver sombrero.
- Caleb Bonemer was 1-for-3 with a walk.
- Lyle Miller-Green and George Wolkow both were 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, with a CS for LMG.
- Ronny Hernandez went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Abraham Nuñez, 1-for-3.
- Pierce George: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
