TRAVERSE CITY -- A week ago, Al Barbato was playing senior league baseball for the Albany Athletics and doing deliveries for New England Linen.
Now he's delivering for the Traverse City Beach Bums, who defeated the division-leading Kalamazoo Kings 9-6 on Tuesday.
The last position player cut in spring training, Barbato received a call from the Beach Bums last Friday after starting second baseman James Guerrero was placed on the disabled list.
"I didn't expect to get a call," said Barbato, who was playing second base in the Albany Twilight League. "I couldn't refuse it."
The rest has worked itself out nicely.
After going 1-for-3 with a home run and being hit by a pitch twice, Barbato saw his on-base percentage drop to .777.
Yes, drop.
In his four games with Traverse City (18-17), he's hitting .600 and had reached safely in nine straight plate appearances before his RBI groundout in the sixth.
"I felt good," Barbato said. "I try to see the ball and keep it simple. I know my role -- play defense and get some hits here and there."
He's done more than that.
He was part of all four Beach Bums double plays that helped TC win the game despite being outhit 12-10. And he started off a crucial four-run fifth inning with a solo home run off reliever Rich Babb.
"He just gets into hitter's counts," Beach Bums manager Gregg Langbehn said. "That's what he's done since he's gotten here. He knows his strike zone and that's why he's been so successful.
"He's here to stay."
Later in the fourth inning, Robby Alcombrack belted his team-leading fifth home run and third in the last two games to put the Bums up 7-3.
It was 9-3 when Kalamazoo (24-13) scored three runs in the seventh, ending the night for starter Jason Kiley (3-4), who struck out four and scattered 10 hits in 62/3 innings to pick up the win. Jeff Williams tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his league-leading 10th save.
John Alonso and Brian Lapin had two hits each for the Bums. Every starter had at least one hit, aside from Mike Epping, who walked and was hit by a pitch.
Corey Whiting came home on a first-inning double steal, trotting in when Kalamazoo catcher Jett Ruiz tried to throw out Barbato at second and didn't come close.
Traverse City added another run in the third, as Barbato was hit by a pitch for the second consecutive at-bat, went to second on balk and came in on Alonso's single to right field.
Kalamazoo got on the board with Kyle Higgins' lead-off home run in the fourth. Joe Ramos followed up with a single, but was erased as the Bums turned their second 4-6-3 double play of the game on Tim Brown's grounder to Barbato. That turned out to be big, as Brendan Murphy then crushed his second home run of the season off Kiley, a solo shot that knotted the game up at 2-2.
Traverse City took a short-lived 3-2 lead as Andrew Stafford drove in his first professional run in the Bums' half of the fourth with a double.
NOTEBOOK: The Beach Bums released catcher Patrick Perry on Tuesday. Perry hit .227 in 26 games this season. Langbehn said the team is bringing in another catcher today.
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