Greenville, SC - Trevor Hutchinson pitched eight innings en route to his first win in over two months as Carolina defeated Greenville 4-2 at Municipal Stadium on Wednesday night.

Hutchinson (W, 6-6, 8ip, 7h, 2r, 2er, 3w, 6k) worked his longest start of his career, allowing a first-inning run and a homer in the seventh as the Mudcats (12-19) moved to within 8 1/2 of first place in the East. Hutchinson's last win was on May 10th, spanning nine starts.

Jason Stokes (HR, 19, 1-4, r, rbi, gdp) hit a solo homer in the second to tie the game. The game remained 1-1 until the seventh when a Ryan Minor (HR, 3, 2-4, r, 2b, 2rbi, k) doubled home Rob Ryan (0-4, r, k) with the go-ahead run. Ryan had reached on the first of three late-game errors by the Braves (20-11).

Kelly Johnson homered off a 0-2 pitch from Hutchinson in the bottom of the seventh before Carolina capitalized on two more Braves errors in the eighth for the game's final lead. Tony Pena bobbled a Matt Demarco (1-4, r) grounder to start the inning. Attempting a sacrifice, Chip Ambres (1-4, 2b, sb) bunted to former Mudcat pitcher Sean Fesh (L, 0-1), who whipped the throw into centerfield, moving Demarco to third. Ambres stole second base before a walk to Josh Willingham (0-1, 3w, k). Jeff Inglin (0-3, rbi, sf) drilled a sacrifice fly to deep left to put the Mudcats ahead 3-2.

Minor homered to right field against Fesh in the ninth.

Randy Messenger (S, 12, 1ip, 1h, 0r, 0w, 0k) allowed a one-out infield single to Adam Stern during a scoreless ninth inning to complete his 12th save.

Nic Ungs (5-7, 4.63) starts the series' third game Thursday night against Izzy Pineda (4-6, 4.63) at 7:15 PM ET at Municipal Stadium.

Carolina 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 --- 4 6 0 5
Greenville 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 --- 2 8 3 9

WP - Hutchinson (6-6)
LP - Fesh (0-1)
S - Messenger (12)

HR - Stokes (19), Johnson (13), Minor (3)

Time: 2:26
Att: 1,249

Notes: Hutchinson, who started the season 5-1, won for the first time in nine starts, breaking a five-game losing streak. His eight-inning outing marked his longest in 36 career starts... Stokes' homer in the second inning against Braves starter Zach Miner ended a 7+ game RBI-less drought, matching the longest of his professional career. In 2001, Stokes also went seven games without driving in a run... Fesh, who went 9-1 with Carolina during its championship season in 2003, earned the loss, allowing two unearned runs before Minor homered in the ninth. Fesh signed as a free agent with Atlanta during the off-season and had spent the entire 2004 season at Triple-A Richmond... Before the game, Willingham was added to Carolina's roster after spending over three weeks in the major leagues with Floirda. Willingham hit .200 with one homer with the Marlins. Jimmy Goelz was placed on the disabled list with an injured hamstring, while RHP Jason Iehl was assigned to Carolina from low-A Greensboro.

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