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SL1 Knoxville Smokies

Montgomery Sweeps Doubleheader After Win in Extras

July 24, 2019 - Southern League (SL1)
Knoxville Smokies News Release


KODAK - The Tennessee Smokies (44-57, 10-22) ran into strong pitching from the Montgomery Biscuits (65-37, 21-11) and dropped both games of their doubleheader. Montgomery shut out Tennessee 3-0 to win game one and outlasted the Smokies in game two, winning 4-3 in extra innings.

Game one opened up with five scoreless innings and dominant pitching from both dugouts. Smokies starter, RHP Thomas Hatch, gave up one hit in three innings while knocking out four Biscuits. In relief, RHP Ben Hecht kept Montgomery scoreless with a pair of hitless innings of his own.

Biscuits starter RHP Paul Campbell (W, 6-2) lasted six scoreless innings. He surrendered three hits in the quality start. Campbell got some help from his right fielder Thomas Milone after loading the bases in the second.

With one out, Connor Myers skied a ball to right and looked good to record a sacrifice fly, but Milone threw a laser beam to home plate, gunning down Jared Young who tried to tag to complete the double play.

A pair of singles for the Biscuits in the top of the sixth set the table for Josh Lowe to elevate a ball deep to centerfield which gave Milone the green light to tag up and score the game's first run. One batter latter, RHP Oscar De La Cruz (L, 3-4) could only watch as Brett Sullivan slashed a two-run homer to lift the lead to 3-0.

To complete the shutout and win, RHP Phoenix Sanders (S, 14) picked up his 14th save by facing the minimum, good for second in the Southern League.

In game two, the Smokies had an answer for Montgomery's offense. A pair of RBI-doubles from Jim Haley and Rene Pinto put the Biscuits on the scoreboard first in the second inning. Milone capped off the inning with an RBI-single to complete the hat trick.

The Smokies responded immediately with a trio of their own runs. Ian Rice reached second thanks to a Tristan Gray error which allowed Charcer Burks to double him in and score the first Smokies run of the doubleheader.

The deficit was cut to one after Gioskar Amaya popped a sacrifice fly to center scoring Zach Davis for his 12th run in 11 starts. Next, Myers tied the game back up with a deep double to centerfield scoring Burks.

Hitless relief pitching from RHP Bailey Clark and LHP Jordan Minch over four innings pushed the game into extras. In the top of the ninth, the deadlock was broken after six scoreless innings. Haley hit a broken bat single to score Gray and the go-ahead run. LHP Wyatt Short (L, 4-3) was charged with the loss but avoided further damage by working out of a bases loaded jam to limit the damage to one run.

RHP Jhonleider Salinas (W, 1-1) tossed two perfect innings to pick up his first win, while RHP Tyler Zombro (S, 8) tallied two strikeouts on his way to the save.

The two sides return to nine-inning baseball tomorrow at Smokies Stadium at 7:00 pm EDT. RHP Alex Lange (2-2, 2.89) starts for Tennessee while Montgomery turns to their ace LHP Kenny Rosenberg (9-1, 2.83).

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