Smokies Win Wild One in Opener Tuesday Night, 3-2
Published on July 21, 2009 under Southern League (SL1)
Knoxville Smokies News Release
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. - A wild pitch by Mississippi Braves reliever Kevin Gunderson brought home Ty Wright to cap a wild end to Tuesday night's series opener and give the Tennessee Smokies a 3-2 win in 10 innings over the M-Braves. Tuesday's win, in front of 4,214 at Smokies Park, puts the Smokies back at .500 (13-13) for the season's second half, 45-51 overall.
Tennessee wasted little time getting on the board Tuesday night. Jonathan Mota led off the bottom of the first with a triple to left-center, then scoring on a Marquez Smith sacrifice fly to give the Smokies the early 1-0 lead. Mota's RBI single to right in the third scored Welington Castillo, putting the Smokies up, 2-0.
Tennessee starter Andrew Cashner was stellar in his six-inning outing Tuesday, limiting the M-Braves to one hit. He struck out five and did not walk a batter, but did not factor in the decision.
Cashner was relieved by teammate Casey Lambert to start the seventh and the M-Braves capitalized, scoring a run off Lambert to cut the Smokies lead to 2-1.
Marco Carrillo came on in the eighth and threw a scoreless inning to hold the 2-1 Tennessee lead. In the ninth though, Jake Muyco could not do the same. Consecutive one-out singles by the M-Braves put runners on first and third for Mississippi's Freddie Freeman, whose sacrifice fly to center brought in teammate Brandon Hicks and eventually send the game into extra innings, tied at two.
After Alex Maestri (3-1) threw a scoreless 10th, the Smokies would put away the M-Braves for good. With one out and runners on first and third, Gunderson (1-2) threw a wild pitch that just missed Wright, scoring Jim Adduci and giving the Smokies the game.
The two teams will square off in Game 2 of this week's five-game series at Smokies Park Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at www.smokiesbaseball.com or by calling (865) 286-2300.
Southern League Stories from July 21, 2009
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