Biscuits Ring Up Smokies, 6-2

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Biscuits (43-34) pitchers tied a team record by striking out 20 batters in a 6-2 win over the Tennessee Smokies (33-41) on Tuesday night at Riverwalk Stadium.

Easton McGee (2-0) made his 10th start for the Biscuits and got off to a strong start, striking out the side in the top of the first. Cam Sanders (2-6) started on the other side for the Smokies, and the righty worked a one-two-three bottom of the first, striking out a pair.

McGee picked up his fourth strikeout in a scoreless second inning in which he allowed a two-out single to Chase Strumpf and a two-out double to Carlos Sepulveda, but neither baserunner scored. Sanders, who threw five no-hit innings against the Biscuits back in May, worked another scoreless, hitless inning in the second to run that total to seven.

After McGee racked up a season-high eight strikeouts through four shutout innings, the Biscuits finally recorded a hit off Sanders with Xavier Edwards lacing a single into center field in the bottom of the fourth. The next batter was Nike Hulsizer, who drilled an RBI-double off the wall in left-center field to make it 1-0 Biscuits. Austin Shenton followed that up with a sac fly to make it 2-0 later in the inning.

McGee struck out two more batters in the fifth to run his season-high total to 10 as the score remained 2-0. The Smokies would finally tag McGee for a run in the sixth thanks to a Jared Young RBI-double to make it 2-1, but the right-hander still tied Tobias Myers for the most strikeouts by a Biscuits pitcher in 2021 with 12 through six innings.

The Biscuits would add to their lead in the sixth inning with an RBI-double down the right field line by Shenton and a two-run home run over the moving train in left by Ruben Cardenas to make it 5-1. An Edwards sac fly in the bottom of the seventh made it a 6-1 contest.

The Smokies got a run back in eighth courtesy of a Zach Davis solo homer to make it 6-2, but Ivan Pelaez struck out eight batters over three innings of relief to earn his ninth save of the season. The 20 strikeouts matched the most in any game by Biscuits pitchers, with the previous time occurring on April 9, 2015 on Opening Day at Riverwalk Stadium against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

The Biscuits will now play a doubleheader against the Smokies on Military Wednesday presented by WOW! starting at 4:30 PM CT.

The rest of the first series will include National IPA Day with a T-Shirt Giveaway on Thursday, August 5; 15th Anniversary of Talladega Nights featuring a NASCAR Hat Giveaway presented by U.S. Air Force on Friday, August 6; Tide & Tiger Night presented by I-92 WLWI & 95.1 The Fox with MAX Fireworks on Saturday, August 7; and Lil' Crumbs Kids Club presented by Go Fish Alabama & Bark in the Park on Sunday, August 8.