The Smokies started the holiday with a big bang Thursday night. Caoabo Cosme took his chance at the plate to provide some early fireworks against Carolina in the ninth inning. His walk-off RBI single gave Tennessee a 5-4 win over the first half champions and completed a stellar series for the Smokies.
The weekend in Greenville was not as kind. Tennessee dropped two of three games against the Braves, managing only a 7-4 win on Saturday. The AA Cardinals affiliate has a few days off for the all-star break before returning to action at home this Thursday night.
Cosme scored Skip Schumaker from third with a single to right field in the ninth inning as Tennessee erased a 4-1 deficit en route to a walk-off 5-4 win over Carolina Thursday night at Smokies Park in front of 6,019 fans. The Smokies started the scoring in the second inning when Bucky Jacobsen scored on a sacrifice fly by Al Benjamin.
Julio Villalon was tagged with three runs in the third inning when he allowed five hits. All three runs scored on Billy Hall’s second home run of the season. Villalon then fell behind 4-1 in the fourth when Tommy Bost tripled and scored on a Jesus Medrano single.
The four runs allowed by Villalon was the first time in the second half that a Smokies starting pitcher allowed more than two runs in a start. The Smokies managed two runs in the sixth when Cosme drove home Skip Schumaker with his 26th double of the season. Cosme later scored on a Corey Erickson RBI single to make the score 4-3. Jacobsen tied the game at four with an eighth inning RBI single scoring John Nelson.
A ninth-inning walk to Skip Schumaker followed by a Nelson single led to a game-winning RBI single by Cosme.
To open the series on Friday the Greenville Braves parlayed a pair of Tennessee errors into a three-run fifth inning and held on for a series-opening 5-3 win over the Smokies at Municipal Stadium. Tennessee had won seven straight over the G-Braves going into the Independence Day contest.
Chris Narveson earned his second Double A win and Mike Lyons nailed down his league-leading 23rd save as Tennessee held off Greenville in a 7-4 Saturday night. Skip Schumaker opened the game with a triple to center field and scored on Cosme’s one-out single. Kevan Burns singled home Cosme to put the Smokies on top 2-0 in the first.
Tennessee added three more in the third against Greenville starter Adam Wainright (5-7).
Jacobsen homered against Wainright in the fourth as the G-Braves starter lasted just 3 2/3 innings.
James Jurries singled home Bill McCarthy with two outs in the 9th inning to lead Greenville (41-45, 5-13) to a 2-1 win over Tennessee (14-4, 49-39) Sunday afternoon. The Braves won the series 2-1, sending the Smokies to their first series loss in the season’s second half.
Tied at one heading into the 9th, the G-Braves rallied against the Tennessee bullpen. Kevin Sprague (3-3) allowed a one-out single to McCarthy and intentionally walked Lee Evans with two out to get to Jason Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald beat out an infield single to load the bases and chase Sprague. Josh Kinney surrendered the game winning single to Jurries, his third hit of the game.

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