Monthly Archives: June 2011

The Tennessee Smokies won their fourth game in a row by defeating the Carolina Mudcats 7-5 in a come from behind fashion. The Smokies would grab an early lead by the score of 4-1 when Junior Lake smashed his third home run of the season in the bottom of the third inning. Carolina would cut the lead to 4-2 on the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Denis Phipps off of RHP Nick Struck.

Tennessee seemed to be in control of the game until the seventh inning when the Mudcats would strike for three runs. With runners on second and third, Eric Campbell hit a pinch hit double to tie the game at 4-4. With two outs, Henry Rodriguez would single home Campbell to give Carolina a 5-4 advantage.

The Smokies would respond in the bottom of the eighth inning when Rebel Ridling would hit a pinch-hit double to score both Brett Jackson and Ryan Flaherty to take the lead 6-5. Matt Spencer would single home Ridling to add to the lead and Kevin Rhoderick would come on in the ninth to get the save for Tennessee.

The Smokies continue their six game series against Carolina on Friday night. The Oscar Meyer Pre-Game Show begins at 7:00 p.m. and first pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.

The Tennessee Smokies defeated the Carolina Mudcats 3-1 on Wednesday evening due to the solid pitching and RBI single by Brooks Raley. Raley, on his 23rd birthday, threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up only one run to get the victory in his birthday. The birthday boy also singled to left field to score Steve Clevenger in the second inning in the win. Rafael Dolis earned his ninth save of the season by closing out the game in the ninth inning for Tennessee.

The win is the third in a row for the Smokies and the second in a row over the Mudcats. Game three of the five game series will take place on Thursday evening, with the Oscar Meyer Pregame Show beginning at 7:00 p.m.

The Tennessee Smokies defeated the Carolina Mudcats 12-11 on Tuesday night in a back and forth offensive battle. The Smokies returned home for their first series at Smokies Park in the second half of the season and their bats came alive. Tennessee blasted four homer runs throughout the night, twho by Rebel Ridling, one by Ryan Flaherty and one by Junior Lake.

Ryan Searle was credited with the victory after starter Trey McNutt only lasted three innings, giving up four runs on six hits. Jeff Beliveau earned the save in the ninth inning for the Smokies, his first of the season.

The Smokies will look to start a winnings streak at home on Wednesday evening when they face the Carolina Mudcats in game two of the five game series. Brooks Raley (4-5, 4.54) will start for Tennessee and James Avery (4-7, 4.63) will get the call for Carolina. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. and the Oscar Meyer Pre-Game Show will begin at 7:00 p.m.

There was little offense between the Smokies and Birmingham Barons on Monday afternoon but after 12 innings of shutout baseball Tennessee comes through with a 1-0 win in 13 innings. In the top of the 13th inning, Junior Lake reached base on a throwing error and Ryan Flaherty followed up with a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Rebel Ridling bunted the runners over and after an intentional walk to Steve Clevenger, Josh Vitters hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Junior Lake.

Starting LHP Chris Rusin pitched five scoreless innings, giving up only two hits and one walk. RHP Jeff Stevens, RHP Esmailin Caridad, RHP Rafael Dolis, and RHP Kevin Rhoderick each pitched two innings of scoreless baseball out of the bullpen and Rhoderick ending up with the win.

Tennessee will begin a rare six game series against the Carolina Mudcats on Tuesday with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. The broadcast can be heard on WNML AM-990 & WNML FM-99.1 The Sports Animal in Knoxville, Lenoir City, Loudon, Kodak, and Sweetwater.

The Tennessee Smokies were downed on Sunday afternoon by the Birmingham Barons 6-0 as RHP Terry Doyle (2-2, 2.67) threw a complete game shutout. Christian Marrero doubled home Brandon Short in the bottom of the first inning and that would prove to be enough for the Barons.

Birmingham would plate four more runs in the third inning as Seth Loman would get it all started with a RBI double to right field. Alden Carrithers would follow up with a RBI-single to left field and Greg Paiml would single to score Loman. Kenneth Williams would then single home Carrithers, making it a 5-0 lead for the Barons. Williams would single again in the fifth inning to score Loman to add one more run to the Birmingham lead.

Game 5 of the series will take place on Monday afternoon beginning at 11:45 a.m.

After a two hour rain delay and 14 innings, the Smokies lose a close one to the Birmingham Barons by the score of 2-1. Tennessee took an early lead in the top of the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Nate Samson to take a 1-0 lead. The Smokies would hold onto their one run lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when Baron’s 3B Josh Phegley would single in Tyler Kuhn to tie the game at 1-1.

After eight scoreless innings, Birmingham finally broke through in the bottom of the 14th inning to win the game. Outfielder Nelson Perez was called on to pitch for Tennessee due to lack of pitchers available and Justin Greene would double in Kyle Shelton to win the game.

The Smokies will make a quick turn around to play Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Dallas Beeler will get the start for Tennessee while the Barons will go with Terry Doyle. Tune into the Smokies Radio Network at 2:45 p.m. for the Oscar Meyer Pregame Show.

The Tennessee Smokies, Double-A minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, announce this afternoon that pitchers Esmailin Caridad and Jeff Stevens have been added to the team’s active roster in advance of tonight’s game with the Birmingham Barons.

Caridad, 27, comes to Tennessee for the first time in 2011, having started the season with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. He was 3-2 with an 8.27 ERA in 26 relief appearances for the “I-Cubs.” In 37.0 innings the allowed 38 runs (34 earned) on 51 hits and 27 walks while striking out 30. The Haina, Dominican Republic native currently has appeared in 22 games at the major league level and is currently on the Cubs’ 40-man roster. Caridad signed with the Cubs as a non-drafted free agent in 2007.

Stevens, 27, joins the Smokies for the first time in his career. He began the 2011 season in Chicago, where he appeared four games before being sent to Iowa. While in Iowa, he made 17 relief appearances going 0-0 with a 10.03 ERA. Originally selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the sixth round of the 2005 MLB First-Year Player Draft, the Berkley, Calf. native was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 2006 then came to the Cubs, along with P Chris Archer and P John Gaub for INF Mark DeRosa in 2008.

The Tennessee Smokies rebounded from Thursday night’s 7-0 shutout down in Birmingham by defeating the Barons by the score of 4-3 on Friday night. After four scoreless innings, Nelson Perez blasted a two-run homer to give the Smokies a 2-0 lead. Birmingham would respond in the bottom of the inning by getting two runs of their own on a two-run double by Tyler Kuhn to even the score at 2-2.

The Barons would take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Brooks Raley would throw a wild pitch with a runner on third. With the Smokies down a run in the top of the eighth inning, Matt Spencer would come to the plate and give Tennessee a lead on a two-run double of his own.

The Smokies would take their one run lead into the ninth inning as Rafael Dolis was called on to close the game. Dolis earned his eighth save of the season, pitching a scoreless inning and only giving up one hit. Tennessee will look to keep the momentum going against Birmingham on Saturday when they send RHP Nick Struck (1-1, 2.01) to the mound while the Barons will counter with LHP Justin Edwards (3-1, 4.03). First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with the Oscar Meyer Pre-Game Show starting at 7:15 p.m.

The Tennessee Smokies came out sluggish after the three day All-Star break, dropping game one of the five game series by the score of 7-0 on Thursday night. Smokies starting pitcher Trey McNutt (1-3, 3.19) only faced five batters and did not record an out on Thursday night. McNutt walked four and gave up two earned runs before being replaced in the first inning by RHP Ryan Searle.

Searle would give up three runs on four hits in his three innings pitched. Kenneth Williams would double in Kyle Shelton in the bottom of the third inning and Tyler Kuhn would knock a two-run triple later in the inning to give the Barons a 5-0 advantage.

Birmingham would tack on two more runs later in the ballgame as Josh Phegley would hit a solo homer off of LHP Jeff Beliveau. In the bottom of the eighth inning Phegley would come in and score on a sacrifice fly by Greg Paiml off of none other than Matt Spencer. Spencer came in to pitch the ninth inning for the Smokies due to a lack of fresh pitching arms in Tennessee’s bullpen.

The Smokies will look to even the series on Friday night with the first pitch set for 8:05 p.m. RHP Brooks Raley (3-5, 4.75) will start for Tennessee while RHP Nevin Griffith (5-3, 6.75) will get the start for the Barons.