Smokies Bats Stay Hot in Win Over Birmingham

Written by Richie Juliano

Birmingham, AL - The Smokies won game two of the six game series in Birmingham with a convincing 9-1 victory over the Barons this afternoon. The Smokies out-hit the Barons 10-3, with a pair of home-runs from Cubs top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong and Chase Strumpf.

The Smokies got on the board in the second and third innings on sacrifice fly's to take a 2-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Strumpf bombed a solo shot to left field taking a 4-0 lead. The Smokies led 5-0 heading into the eighth inning until Crow-Armstrong worked an incredible 16 pitch at-bat for a grand slam to right field, putting this one out of reach at 9-0. The Barons got on the scoreboard with two doubles in the ninth inning to erase the shutout. The Smokies have won both games in the series with a 9-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon.

Smokies starter Jordan Wicks picked up his first victory of the season and was untouchable, tossing 5 complete innings with only 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. Wicks gave up a lead-off walk in the first inning, and then retired 15 in a row to end his outing. The Smokies take a .5 game lead in the Southern League North standings, pending tonight's game between Rocket City and Chattanooga.

First pitch for game three of the series is scheduled for tomorrow night at 8:05 EDT. RHP Ben Brown will take the hill for the Smokies. Mick Gillispie will have the call on the Sports Animal with the Wicked Weed Pregame show starting at 7:50. https://www.milb.com/tennessee/fans/audio-listen-live