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SL1 Mississippi Braves

Walks Plague M-Braves in Loss to Tennessee

July 23, 2014 - Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


Kodak, TN - The Tennessee Smokies walked nine times on Wednesday night and built up a lead through the middle innings for a 6-3 win over the Mississippi Braves at Smokies Park.

For the third consecutive night, the M-Braves (17-16; 56-46) crossed the plate first in the first inning. Jose Peraza singled to start the game, stole two bases and came in on a Cedric Hunter force at second for a 1-0 lead.

But the Smokies (17-16; 50-52) came back in the second inning off starter JR Graham (1-5), who walked Dustin Geiger and Taylor Davis to lead off the inning and Pin-Chieh Chen singled to load the bases.

Mississippi went to the bullpen for Williams Perez who struck out opposing pitcher Eduardo Figueroa, but Jae-Hoon Ha and Stephen Bruno hit back-to-back RBI singles for a 2-1 Smokies lead, one that they would never relinquish.

Graham allowed two runs on two hits over an inning with three walks in the loss.

Tennessee extended their lead in the third off Perez. Jonathan Mota doubled to lead off the inning and two batters later Davis doubled to make it 3-1 Smokies.

The game stayed close until the sixth as Perez tried to work into his fifth relief inning. He hit Ha with a pitch and Bruno ripped a triple for an RBI and a 4-1 lead. Charlie Cutler drew a walk and Christian Villanueva doubled to score both, extending the lead to 6-1.

Perez allowed four runs on five hits over four innings, striking out three and walking four.

The M-Braves tried to climb back into it in the eighth. After Kyle Wren smoked a leadoff double, Hunter blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall to pull it to 6-3, but it was too late.

Figueroa (1-1) picked up the win, allowing just an earned run on four hits over five frames in the start, walking two and striking out one. Zach Cates picked up his first save of the year, throwing a scoreless ninth with one walk and one strikeout.

Nine total walks were the most allowed by the M-Braves (17-16; 56-46) since April 23 when they walked 10 in a 10-7 loss to Montgomery.

Having lost eight of their last 11, the M-Braves try to snap the skid in Thursday night's fourth game of the series with the Smokies. Right-hander Ryan Weber (3-3, 4.38) takes the hill for the Braves, with first pitch slated for 6:15 PM CT.

Listen live to Kyle Tait on the call beginning at 6:00 PM CT on 103.9 WYAB and online at MississippiBraves.com.

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Southern League Stories from July 23, 2014


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