Josh Johnson Leads Carolina Mudcats to 6-0 Win Over Tennessee Smokies

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MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -Zebulon, NC- The Tennessee Smokies (38-49, 11-6) took on the Carolina Mudcats (47-40, 9-8), from Five County Stadium in an Independence Day Night showdown Friday Night in front of 8,769. The night was owned by the Mudcats Josh Johnson who was 2-for-3 at the plate with a homerun and three runs driven home, while shutting out Tennessee through eight innings in the start in a 6-0 win.

The loss for Tennessee allowed Carolina to climb to within two games of their first place second half lead. The Smokies did not score a run for the second straight game and have gone eighteen innings without touching home.

Mudcats All-Star first baseman Gaby Sanchez gave the sellout home crowd something to cheer about in the bottom of the first as he had an opposite field homerun. The line drive over the right field wall gave Carolina a 1-0 lead.

Carolina added a second run in the third inning to push ahead 2-0. Pitcher Josh Joshson got things started with a double and would score on a single by Chris Coghlan.

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Josh Johnson would revisit the plate in the fourth inning and again touch up Caridad. He crushed a 1-2 pitch over the leftfield wall for a three-run homerun. The hit was only his second of the season and Carolina took a commanding 5-0.

Esmailin Caridad pitched 5.2/3 innings in the start which resulted in his first loss of the season. Caridad allowed six runs on ten hits with three homeruns. He didn’t walk a batter and had two strikeouts.

Josh Johnson not only had a huge offensive game as a hitter, he was stellar in the start on the mound. Johnson pitched eight shutout innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. He was making a Major League Baseball rehab start and looked ready to head back to the Marlins.

The Smokies and Mudcats play game two of the series Saturday evening at 6.15 from Five County Stadium. The Smokies radio broadcast begins fifteen minutes prior to first pitch on the Sports Animal, FM 99.1 & 99.3 & AM 990. Lefthander James Russell (3-3) will pitch for the Smokies and Willie Glen (4-2) gets the Mudcats nod. Tennessee will return home for a five-game set against the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx on Tuesday July 8th through Saturday July 12th. All game times are set for 7:15 pm.

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