Biscuits Stun Smokies 5-3 for Comeback Win

The Biscuits (28-24) erupted for four runs in the eighth inning and defeated the Smokies in a come-from-behind win (29-22) in game two of their five-game series, 5-3, Wednesday night at Riverwalk Stadium.

Mike Franco had another decent outing surrendering three runs on five hits while walking three and striking out six in a no-decision. The Texan native pitched seven innings for the third time this season. The Biscuits are now 9-1 in Franco starts.

The Smokies would score their first run in the second on a homer to deep center field by David Bote to make it a 1-0 game. An inning later Erick Castillo would swat an RBI-double to put the Tennessee up 2-0.

Andrew Velazquez brought the Biscuits within one in the bottom half of the third with a solo blast to right-center to make it 2-1 after three. The score would remain 2-1 until the seventh when Carlos Penalver hit his first home run of the season off Franco to give the Smokies a 3-1 lead.

Kyle Winkler (1-0) entered in the top of the eighth and pitched a scoreless inning to secure his first win of the season. It was just his second appearance since being sent back to Montgomery from AAA Durham on May 26, 2017.

Montgomery rallied in the eighth inning to take a late lead and they didn’t look back. Joe McCarthy led off the inning with an RBI-double, and then a few batters later Michael Russell brought in the winning runs with a two-run double to center. Russell recorded his fourth game-winning hit of the season. Diego Castillo entered in the ninth and slammed the door by recording two punch-outs and a ground out to earn his eighth save of the season.

The Biscuits have now won six of their last seven games against the Smokies and are just 1.5 games behind Tennessee for first place in the North Division. Montgomery will look to continue to close that gap when right-hander Jose Mujica (3-3) takes the mound against righty Preston Morrison (0-4). The game will begin Thursday night at 7:05 PM.