Tennessee Smokies Advance to Southern League Championship Series
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The Chicago Cubs can now hang their hat on two minor league affiliates making their league championship series. Just two days after High-A South Bend won back-to-back elimination games to secure the Midwest League Championship, Double-A Tennessee repeated the feat, overcoming a 1-0 series deficit to advance to their first Southern League Championship in 11 years.
The decisive game three was a pitcher's duel, with each team managing just seven hits throughout. For Tennessee, 6'7" starting pitcher Chris Clarke was the hero.
The righty allowed one run over six innings of work, striking out seven and allowing seven base runners. The 24-year-old bent but never broke, the closest thing to struggles coming in the third inning. With the bases loaded, one out, and a run already across, the USC product got two massive outs to strand the runners and keep the game tied at one.
While Clarke kept tossing up zeroes, Tennessee's offense did just enough to get the job done. A Jake Slaughter RBI-single in the fifth and a Harrison Wenson solo home run in the eighth gave the Smokies their second and third runs, which would be all they needed for victory.
Tennessee kicks off the best-of-three Southern League Championship at 4 p.m. CDT Sunday against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. Game one will be in Pensacola.
Also on the farm:
Triple-A: Iowa Cubs (66-79) at Omaha Storm Chasers (71-74): L 10-2
- In their Triple-A debuts, Peyton Remy and Kyle Johnson pitched a scoreless inning each. Johnson went 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
- Scott McKeon was the lone Cubs with multiple hits. He finished 2-for-4.
- Caleb Kilian again struggled, allowing four runs in 4.1 innings with five walks.
Double-A: Tennessee Smokies (2-1) vs Rocket City Trash Pandas (2-1): W 3-1
- Harrison Wenson was a hero for the Smokies, homering twice, one in the third and one in the eighth.
- Jake Slaughter went 3-for-5, all of which were singles.
- Samuel Reyes pitched the final three innings, allowing no runs on four baserunners and striking out five en route to the save.
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