Narron Stars on Mound and at Plate in Huntsville Victory

Sam Narron tossed his second complete game of the season and knocked in the go-ahead run to lead Huntsville to a 3-2 victory over Tennessee and a five-game series sweep at Smokies Park. The Stars won a season-best sixth straight on the road to improve to 29-11 and maintain their five game lead over West Tenn in the North Division, while the Smokies fell to 15-25 and lost for an 12th time in their last 14 home games. Don Money became the Stars' all-time winningest manager with his 231st victory since the start of the 2005 season. Robinson Chirinos doubled with one out in the home second, moved to third base on an errant pick off attempt by Narron and came in on a scoring fly ball off the bat of Matt Matulia to give the Smokies a 1-0 lead. Narron picked up the Stars first hit of the game with a two-out single in the third but was thrown out at the plate to end the frame on a Michael Brantley double. Carlos Corporan walked with two outs in the top half of the fifth, advanced to third on a fielding error by Doug Deeds and scored to tie the game on a single by Brantley, who reached base in four of his five at-bats. Ryan Crew led off the seventh with a single, advanced on a Corporan sacrifice bunt, his first of the season, and scored when Narron bounced a ground ball base hit into center field to drive in his fourth run of the season. Brantley followed with a single before Freddy Parejo tapped a ground ball toward the mound that was fielded by Mitch Atkins, who threw wildly past first base allowing Narron to score to make it 3-1, Brantley to reach third and Parejo to get to second base. Atkins worked out of further damage by getting Alcides Escobar on a ground out against a drawn-in infield and Matt LaPorta on a grounder to third. Atkins suffered the loss to fall to 2-4 after allowing three runs, one earned, on eight hits over seven innings. He struck out four and walked four. Narron stranded Matt Camp at third base in the third inning, got Matulia to bounce into a force out with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning and took a two-run lead into the ninth, having thrown only 92 pitches. Doug Deeds led off with a double, advanced on a Robinson Chirinos sacrifice bunt and scored on Matulia's second sacrifice fly of the day after a diving catch by Cole Gillespie in right field. Chris Robinson singled before pinch-hitter Steve Clevenger grounded out to first base to end the game and finish off the Stars' third series sweep of the season. Narron allowed eight hits, walked one and fanned one to earn his league-best sixth win of the year. The Stars return home Thursday night to open a five-game series with Carolina. Huntsville will send left-hander Steve Hammond to the hill against Mudcats' right-hander Ryan Tucker. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.