Talk about starting the season off with a bang: the Birmingham Barons (Class AA; Southern League) drew the largest crowd ever to Regions Field, as parent Chicago White Sox came in for an exhibition.
The announced attendance of 8,513 marked the largest in Regions Field history, while the sellout was the seventh at the downtown Birmingham ballpark since opening in April, 2013.
The Barons lost to the White Sox, 5-2. The White Sox took and early 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Alejandro De Aza against Barons starter Chris Beck. The lead grew to 2-0 an inning later on an RBI base hit by Conor Gillaspie.
The White Sox plated two more runs in the sixth when a line-drive base hit to left-center by Leury Garcia was misplayed, allowing Adam Dunn and De Aza to score, giving the visitors a 4-0 advantage. The error was one of five on the night for the Barons which led to four unearned runs.
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