Smokies Pitching Staff Strikes Out 15 Braves in Win

Tyler Payne Homers in His Double-A Debut

By Matthew Peterson

August 1, 2019

PEARL, MS - The Tennessee Smokies (47-63, 14-27) picked up a 4-1 win in game one of their series against the Mississippi Braves (53-56, 20-20) at Trustmark Park on Thursday night. LHP Luis Lugo (W, 5-0) maintained his perfect record, while the pitching staff eliminated 15 batters via strikeout, the second

PEARL, MS - The Tennessee Smokies (47-63, 14-27) picked up a 4-1 win in game one of their series against the Mississippi Braves (53-56, 20-20) at Trustmark Park on Thursday night. LHP Luis Lugo (W, 5-0) maintained his perfect record, while the pitching staff eliminated 15 batters via strikeout, the second highest total this season.
In the second, a pair of walks set the table for Charcer Burks to record the first Smokies RBI in August. Burks bounced a ball to third base and got a little help from a throwing error by third baseman C.J. Alexander to score Roberto Caro.
The offense wasn't done in the second inning. With two outs, Zach Davis played small ball and bunted a ball off RHP Kurt Hoekstra (L, 1-1) which scored Gioskar Amaya to put the Smokies up 2-0.
In his Smokies debut, catcher Tyler Payne ended the night with two runs scored and a solo home run. In the third, he tacked on the third Smokies run by reaching on an error. Next, Jared Young doubled for the first time since July 5 to push Payne 90 feet away from home plate. A sacrifice fly from Caro cashed in Payne and moved the score to a 3-0 Smokies lead.
Smokies starter Lugo entered tonight with a perfect 4-0 record in his five starts and stayed undefeated. Lugo allowed one run on six hits in five frames while striking out a season best seven batters.
Coming out of the pen, RHP Michael Rucker (H, 5) and LHP Jordan Minch (H, 5) held off any comeback attempts by combining for three, one-hit, shutout innings while striking out six Braves.
The Smokies final insurance run came in the eighth. Payne looped the second pitch he saw over the left field wall to stretch the lead to 4-1.
LHP Wyatt Short (S, 8) sealed the deal in the bottom of the ninth by punching out the first two batters to run the strikeout total to 15.
The two sides meet again Friday at 7:35 pm EDT from Trustmark Park. A pair of top pitching prospects duel with the Smokies giving the ball to RHP Cory Abbott (5-7, 3.68) and the Braves turning to LHP Kyle Muller (7-6, 3.14)