OPENING NIGHT 2022: Smokies batter Biscuits

The Montgomery Biscuits opened their home portion of the 2022 schedule on Tuesday at Riverwalk Stadium. (Tim Gayle/Graham Dunn)

By TIM GAYLE 

The Tennessee Smokies battered Montgomery starter Michael Mercado with three doubles and a pair of home runs and the Biscuits’ late rally fell short in a 4-3 loss at Riverwalk Stadium on Opening Night.

A crowd of 3,534 watched Mercado, in his first Double-A start, allow four runs in the first two innings and rarely found reason to cheer as a quartet of Tennessee pitchers shut the door on the Biscuits’ offense in the organization’s 18th home opener at Riverwalk. 

Each side tallied an impressive home run to center field, with former UCLA standout Chase Strumpf blasting a three-run shot to center field in the first inning and Kameron Misner countering for the Biscuits with a no-doubt shot to the top of the center field screen for a solo home run in the sixth.

Yonathan Perlaza’s solo shot down the right field line that barely stayed in fair territory gave the Smokies a 4-0 lead in the second inning. 

The Biscuits picked up their first hit of the game on an Austin Shenton single to right in the bottom of the second and the Montgomery third baseman later scored on an Evan Edwards’ single to center. But as the Biscuits found throughout the night -- they went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position -- there were more missed opportunities than offensive highlights. 

After Misner’s home run, Edwards’ sacrifice fly trimmed the deficit to 4-3 in the sixth, but 10 of the final 11 batters were retired in order.

The 11th, Greg Jones, put a little spark in the crowd in the seventh when he drew a two-out walk, stole second, continued to third on a throwing error by the catcher and came home on a wild pitch. But Bryce Windham retrieved the ball from in front of the plate and tagged out Jones in a close play at the plate to preserve the one-run lead.

Smokies’ closer Brandon Hughes struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to pick up the save. 

Montgomery (2-2) and Tennessee (3-1) play the second game of the six-game home stand on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. as Caleb Sampen makes his 2022 debut for the Biscuits. On Thursday, the club will hand out free T-shirts to the first 1,000 fans on “Thirsty Thursday” as heralded Rays’ prospect Taj Bradley makes his Riverwalk debut in a 6:35 start. On Friday, the Biscuits will hand out bucket hats to the first 1,000 fans on Ladies Night at 6:35 p.m.

The home stand concludes with a 3:33 p.m. game on Sunday afternoon.