Smokies Fall Short in 16-Run Game to Montgomery

Both offenses combined for 22 hits in a hitting barrage; however, the Tennessee Smokies (34-39, 1-3) came up short against the Montgomery Biscuits (46-27, 2-1) 9-7 at Smokies Stadium on Sunday night. 
In a, high scoring, back and forth game, the Smokies claimed the first run in the bottom of the second on a Jhonny Pereda RBI-single to score Charcer Burks. 
Montgomery responded with a pair of their own runs in the next frame. Jermaine Palacios led off with a deep triple off RHP Thomas Hatch (L, 4-7). Two batters later Josh Lowe leveled the game with a ground ball single to right field sending Palacios home. Later on with two outs, Tristan Gray added the second triple of the inning, pushing Lowe home to give Montgomery a 2-1 lead. 
In the bottom of the third, the Smokies countered with five runs of their own. Vimael Machin tied the game back up with a sacrifice fly after three Smokies singled to load the bases. Then, Burks drew a walk to load the bases once again in the inning. Jesse Hodges sent a no-doubter deep to left field for a grand slam. The grand slam was the second of his career with his first coming during his Advanced-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans days on July 18, 2017. It was the first slam for the Smokies in 2019.
The Smokies took their 6-2 lead into the fourth only to surrender five runs to the Biscuits. Palacios added another RBI to jump start the scoring when he singled to score Robbie Tenerowicz who reached on an error to lead off the inning. Lowe got in on the action by piling on two more runs with a double, cutting the deficit to one. To regain the lead, Kevin Padlo sent a shot over the left field wall for his tenth homer of the season.
The Smokies added another run in the fourth frame. This time thanks to a Gioskar Amaya RBI-double, tying the game for the fourth time. To end six straight frames of a run being scored, Lucius Fox tagged up on a sacrifice fly from Palacios to put the Biscuits ahead once again running the score up to 8-7. 
After a pair of scoreless innings, Padlo brought Palacios home on a sacrifice fly adding a Biscuits insurance run. Palacios and Padlo combined for five RBI and five runs. RHP Blake Bivens (W, 4-0) tossed two scoreless innings to stay perfect on the season while RHP Tyler Zombro (S, 4) retired the final three batters to secure the win.  
Smokies manager Jimmy Gonzalez was one of two ejections in the game after an argument regarding a play at third base. It was the first time Gonzalez has been tossed from a game this season. Tenerowicz was the other send-off after arguing balls and strikes in the fifth.
The series concludes Monday night with first pitch is set for 7:00 pm EDT at Smokies Stadium. SL All-Star and Chicago Cubs No. 9 prospect RHP Cory Abbott (4-3, 3.50) faces off against Biscuits RHP Sam McWilliams (5-2, 2.00).