Game Preview: July 22 v. Jacksonville

With a series victory on the line, the Tennessee Smokies (18-10, 52-45) will play the rubber match of their five-game series against the Jacksonville Suns (15-13, 49-46). First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM from Smokies Park. 

WHAT’S AT STAKE: Birmingham won last night to pull within 2.5 games of Tennessee for first place in the North Division.  Luckily for the Smokies, Birmingham was the only North Division team to win yesterday.  Jacksonville’s win got them within a half a game of first place after Montgomery beat first-place Mobile. 

TONIGHT’S STARTERS: 

Jacksonville: Bryan Evans (2-3, 3.89 ERA): Evans began the year as a starter and lost his first three starts before moving to the bullpen.  Tonight will be his fifth start of the season and 12th overall appearance.  Evans already featured in this series pitching two scoreless innings on July 18 out of the bullpen.  In his last start, Evans tossed five scoreless innings for the win against Mobile on July 11. 

Tennessee: Kyle Hendricks (9-3, 2.03 ERA): The starter for the North Division in the All-Star Game, Hendricks will make his first start after the break.  Hendricks has gone five innings in four of his last five starts mainly to save his innings count for the season.  His last start he fired five shutout innings at Jackson for the victory on July 13.  His 2.03 ERA remains the best in the Southern League and is 1.07 WHIP is good for fourth. 

LAST TIME OUT: After threatening to score in the first two innings, the Suns broke through in the third and never looked back as they defeated the Smokies 8-1.  Tennessee committed a season-high six errors as three, unearned runs came into score.  Already leading 5-1 in the 7th inning, Jake Marisnick put the game out of reach with a three-run home run, his 12th of the season. 

PLAYERS TO WATCH: 

Jake Marisnick: Marisnick ended up 3-for-6 in last night’s game with his 12th home run of the year.  Overall Marisnick is 6-for-14 in this series with five RBIs. 

Mark Canha: Canha’s batting average has climbed 18 points since the beginning of this series.  He had a season-high five hits last night with a run and two runs batted in. 

Rubi Silva: Silva managed a hit in four at bats last night in the Smokies loss to the Suns.  He now has a seven-game hitting streak. 

Javier Baez: Baez also went 1-for-4 last night in a game where the Smokies only managed three hits.  His average now sits at .216, the highest it’s been since after his Double-A debut. 

KEY TO THE GAME: It’s now been four straight games that the Suns have scored the game’s first run in this series.  Tennessee has been able to come back and win two of them but digging themselves a hole caught up to them last night.  

TUNE IN: The broadcast will be available on our flagship station, The Sports Animal WNML AM 990 and on FM 99.1 in Knoxville beginning at 7:00 ET with the Pilot & Oscar Mayer Pregame Show. You can also listen to the broadcast in its entirety on smokiesbaseball.com as well as the Smokies mobile app.