SL1 Knoxville Smokies

Thornburg Nearly Perfect as Stars Down Smokies, 5-2

Published on April 16, 2012 under Southern League (SL1)
Knoxville Smokies News Release


HUNTSVILLE, Ala . - Huntsville starter Tyler Thornburg came within five outs of a perfect game as the Stars downed the Tennessee Smokies, 5-2 on Monday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

In his quest to fire the Southern League's first nine-inning perfect game since 1970, Thornburg retired the first 22 batters he faced before Mike Burgess dribbled a one-out single up the middle in the top of the eighth.

With the Smokies trailing, 5-0, Burgess came around to score the Smokies' first run of the night when the next batter, Jonathan Mota, doubled to left to make it a 5-1 contest. Juan Apodaca followed with an RBI double to plate Mota and cut the Tennessee deficit to 5-2. That's as close as the Smokies would get, however, as Josh Stinson fired a perfect ninth to notch his first save of the season for Huntsville.

Thornburg (3-0), who was charged with one run, finished the night with 11 strikeouts in a 98-pitch outing.

With Trey McNutt on the mound for the Smokies, Huntsville opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Brock Kjeldgaard doubled home Josh Prince, who had led off with a single. The Stars extended their lead to 5-0 thanks to a pair of two-run homers off the bat of Scooter Gennett in the fifth and seventh innings against Smokies' reliever Jeff Antigua.

McNutt (0-1) allowed one run on four hits over four innings.

Gennett finished the night 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs.

The Smokies and Stars play the middle contest of their five-game series on Tuesday night at 7:43 p.m. when Tennessee sends right-hander Dallas Beeler (0-0, 1.64 ERA) to the mound against Huntsville righty Evan Anundsen (0-0, 2.57 ERA) at Joe Davis Stadium.

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Southern League Stories from April 16, 2012


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