Down on the Farm: Smokies and Cubs pick up wins Wednesday

We’ll start off the day with the Tennessee Smokies looking for redemption and the series win against the Birmingham Barons. I noted in the beginning of this article that the Barons hammered Smokies pitchers yesterday. Most of the damage came from Josh Richmond who had a grand slam which was followed up by a solo blast by Rangel Ravelo.

Now most of the offense from this game came from the good guys, but during the top of the first inning. The Smokies pushed across eight runs right out of the gate. Both Wes Darvill and Dustin Geiger picked up RBI doubles which made it 3-0 then 7-0 before Zeke DeVoss picked up an RBI, making it 8-0.

Smokies pitcher Corey Black had Birmingham‘s bats completely quiet his entire outing. He made it through six innings, walked three batters while striking out eight. Black was pulled after the sixth inning and was replaced by P.J. Francescon who would give up the only Barons run of the ball game.

Birmingham’s only run of the game came during the bottom of the eighth inning on a Gordon Beckham groundout to shortstop Jeudy Valdez. Rubi Silva would launch his second home run of the season during the top of the sixth.

Despite giving up a run, Francescon would be credited with the save after completing the final three innings of the ball game. He would finish with one earned run, two walks and two strikeouts.

Winning pitcher is Corey Black (1-1, 2.65 ERA), loss was handed to Terry Doyle (2-2, 6.00 ERA) and the save was awarded to P.J. Francescon (1).

Final Score: Smokies 9, Barons 1.

Tennessee improves to 10-10.