Tennessee Smokies Take Game One of Southern League Championship Series Over Pensacola

Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate Tennessee won game one of its best-of-three Southern League Championship series against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Author:
Payton Havermann
Publish date:
Sep 26, 2022 7:35 PM EDT

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Chicago Cubs

The Tennessee Smokies sit just one game away from being the 2022 Southern League champions following their game one victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. The Smokies would be the second Chicago Cubs affiliate to win its league championship. along with High-A South Bend.

Tennessee came out swinging, plating three runs in the top of the first off of Wahoos starter Luis Palacios giving Smokies starter DJ Herz a nice cushion to work with. A Nelson Maldonado home run in the third gave Tennessee a 4-0 lead before Pensacola got one unearned run off of Herz in the fourth.

Tennessee's bullpen trio of Riley Martin, Blake Whitney, and Bailey Horn were fantastic, pitching 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out seven batters, and allowing just three total baserunners to secure the 4-1 victory.

The Smokies will have an off-day Monday before looking for the sweep at 6:15 p.m. CDT Tuesday at Smokies Stadium in Tennessee. It would be Tennessee's first league title since 2004.

Also on the farm:

Triple-A: Iowa Cubs (67-79) at Omaha Storm Chasers (71-75): W 9-4

Every Cubs starter had at least one hit.
Alexander Canario went 1-for-4 with a double and a walk. The 22-year-old has an OPS of .873 in Triple-A.
Narciso Crook led the Cubs in hits, going 3-for-5.
Matt Mervis and John Hicks each went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
The Iowa bullpen trio of CD Pelham, Cam Sanders, and Ben Leeper combined to pitch four perfect innings with three strikeouts.

Double-A: Tennessee Smokies (1-0) vs Rocket City Trash Pandas (0-1): W 4-1

Yonathan Perlaza went 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot. All of his hits were singles.
Nelson Maldonado went 2-for-4 with a home run. Maldonado's home run was the only Smokies extra-base hit.
Cole Roederer went 0-for-1 with three walks.
Bailey Horn picked up his first save of the postseason. The lefty pitched two innings, allowing no runs on one hit with four strikeouts.
DJ Herz pitched 3.1 innings, allowing an unearned run while walking four and striking out five.