98...97...99...101.
There may have been a slight chill in the Chattanooga air and gloomy clouds overhead before the game, but the cold weather was not the reason Tennessee Smokies leadoff hitter left the box shaking (his head.) Those numbers, which look like the kinds of temperatures Bill Race reads off during a July broadcast, were the speed of Hunter Greene’s first four pitches. His fireballing stuff cut across the chilly air like hot charcoal through winter snow, and Zach Davis had a snowball’s chance in Hunter Greene’s hell of making solid contact.
Davis has a quick swing befitting a leadoff hitter, but he got nothing but air as Greene’s 101 MPH fastball ripped past him before settling into Chuckie Robinson’s waiting glove on the inside corner.
After that came top 100 prospect Miguel Amaya, who joined Davis in whiffing on a triple digit missile in the upper part of the strike zone. The Lookouts may have walked off the game 5-4 in extra innings, but the result was almost insignificant compared to Greene-centric spectacle that unfolded on the mound.
After Greene got Grayson Byrd to swing and miss on a 102 MPH offering to start the second inning, Lookouts right fielder Lorenzo Cedrola gave his starting pitcher some run support in the bottom of it. He poked a Matt Swarmer toss to his left, making just enough contact to squeeze the ball past two diving Smokie Infielders. While Cedrola ran to second base with a double, TJ Hopkins ran in from second base to score. Third baseman Byrd Tenerowicz repeated the feat in the next at bat, with his slow roller into center field scoring Cedrola to give Greene a 2-0 lead.
Greene kept on ripping through Smokies hitters in the third inning, working through the side in order. He received help from his defense though on the second out. Connor Myers looped a single into center, and a diving Hopkins appeared to catch the ball, but the umpire declared he trapped it. Myers decided to try for two bases after he realized it was a hit, but was tagged out by shortstop Jose Barrero (formerly referred to as Jose Garcia) after a strong throw by Hopkins.
Greene was more than just triple digit arrows into the strike zone though, as are most great pitchers. Whenever Smokie hitters thought they could key on his famous fastball, Greene would hit them with a breaking ball that touched 90 on AT&T’s radar gun. And when those hitters started to sit on the breaking stuff, Greene came right back with a fastball into the upper part of the zone, which future major leaguer Amaya could only swing and miss at during the fourth inning.
Other than the second inning, which could have been seen as his infield’s fault as much as his own, Swarmer pitched masterfully. While his fastball was a good 10 MPH slower than Greene’s, the Lookouts just couldn’t get on base against him. Flyouts ruled the next few innings, with would-be hits dying as weak balls landing into Smokie gloves. In the top of the 5th, Christopher Morel was able to catch up with one of Greene’s 101 MPH fastballs and slapped it into center field for a double.
Nelson Maldonado worked the count to 3-0 during the next at bat, but Greene rebounded to force a flyout to Cedrola. Bad baserunning by Morel got Greene out of the inning, with the Smokie getting picked off when he got caught straying from third after his Erick Castillo singled to Barrero. The shortstop zipped a throw to Tenerowicz and an emphatic third base umpire signaled Morel was out with a solid punch.
After his shoddy fielding gave the Smokies the winning runs in last night’s game, Tenerowicz somewhat redeemed himself in the top of the sixth. Greene’s fastball had lost a few ticks, going from triple digits to ‘just’ the high 90s, and the Smokies hitters were able to turn them into left-going grounders. The Lookouts third baseman clinically collected two of them and made accurate throws across the diamond for back to back outs in another scoreless inning.
Lookout first baseman Yoel Yanqui showed off his deceptive speed in the bottom of the sixth. He blasted a ball into the right field corner, and chugged around the basepaths before sliding headfirst into third with an inning-starting triple. Yanqui almost sheepishly trotted home after he saw Barerro plop the first pitch he saw into left field. The Lookouts went into the seventh inning up 3-0, and Greene came out for what was his last inning of work.
Green gave up single to up the middle to Darius Hill, but came back and got Tyler Payne to fly out to right. But once Grayson Byrd put a single into center field, Greene suddenly faced a rare stressful situation. Catcher Chuckie Robinson went out to the mound to chat with his pitcher, and then departed a few seconds later. Greene got Morel to ground out up the middle for out number two, and then was visited by pitching coach Rob Wooten before Maldonado set up in the batter’s box.
Maldonado didn’t even have to swing, as none of Greene’s pitches came anywhere close to the strike zone before the Smokie loaded the bases. Greene proceeded to give up a single into left to Castillo, and in came two Smokies. With the score now sitting at 3-2, manager Ricky Gutierrez showed faith in the 22 year-old by leaving him in to face Myers. Greene rewarded Gutierrez with a swinging strikeout to end the inning. The former number two overall pick ended his night with eight strikeouts, one walk, seven hits, and two earned runs in seven innings of work.
Alexis Diaz came in for the eighth and had a runner on second with only one out. Diaz got one Smokie to strike out swinging, but then walked the next before getting pulled for right hander Nick Howard. Chattanooga’s second reliever started his night with a wild pitch that moved the two runners up to second and third, and then gave up a fly ball to left.
Brian Rey ran to his left across the grass and tried to make a leaping catch. He appeared to have it in his glove for a moment, but the ball squirted out and two Smokies were in safe by the time he got the ball back into the infield. The visitors went into the bottom of the 8th up 4-3, and the Lookouts responded by loading the bases to start their side of the inning. Wilson Garcia stepped up to the plate, and tied the game at four apiece on a sacrifice fly to left. The game remained tied after that though once TJ Hopkins struck out swinging.
Rey got the Lookouts ninth inning off to a fantastic start when he got plunked by Manuel Rodriguez and took first. Rodriguez was nowhere near the strike zone with Cedrola either, and smacked the outfielder on his second pitch after being far inside on his first. The Lookouts had men on first and second with no outs, and pinch-hitter Michael De Leon was next up after the Smokies replaced Rodriguez with Ben Leeper.
After De Leon popped up, the task of driving in the winning run fell to TJ Schuyler, who had replaced Robinson at catcher in the eighth inning. But just like his teammate, Schuyler could muster nothing more than a weak popup against Leeper. Leadoff hitter Alejo Lopez ended the disappointing inning by grounding to first and gave the fans free baseball.
Zach Davis was knocked to the ground when Howard’s fastball accidentally hit Davis in the head as Davis was trying to bunt his way onto first. After sitting down for a few moments, Davis was helped off the field by Smokies staff. After Amaya walked on four pitches, the Smokies had the bases loaded with no outs. Gutierrez decided he had seen enough, and pulled Howard for Dauri Moreta.
Darius Hill’s bunt got him on first base, but a great play at the plate by Schuyler after taking in a bad throw got the first out. Moreta got Payne to whiff on a 96 MPH fastball on the outside corner, and the Lookouts had a real chance to get out of the bases loaded situation with no damage done. Moreta looked like early-game Greene, and his mid-90s fastballs and drastic breaking balls got Byrd to strike out on three straight swing and mises.
Alejo Lopez started the inning at second, and Yanqui walked the Lookouts off when he sent a ground ball through the middle of the infield for the win. After three hours and 12 minutes, the Lookouts had a 5-4 win. Top pitching prospect Nick Lodolo will pitch tomorrow’s game at 2:15.
Smokies: 0/0/0/0/0/0/2/2/0/0 - 4/9/1
Lookouts: 0/2/0/0/0/1/0/1/0/1 - 5/8/1
Swarmer, Kelly (7), Rodriguez (8), (9) and Payne; Greene, Diaz (8), Howard (8) and Robinson, Moreta (10) andSchuyler
WP: Moreta
LP: Leeper
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