Tennessee 7, Carolina 4 (10)

Zebulon, NC-  The Tennessee Smokies (33-27) held their portion of first place in the North Friday night after a 7-4 10-inning victory over the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium.

The Smokies overcame a 3-0 early deficit with major leaguer Josh Johnson throwing fastballs at them in the mid-90s. Johnson, making his second minor league rehab start, pitched 5.2 solid innings but was pulled with a full count to Smokies first baseman Matt Craig after reaching his pitch limit for the outing.  Johnson scattered four hits while allowing just one earned run, an RBI double off the bat of left fielder Jake Fox in the fourth.

The Smokies took the lead in the seventh when they sent eight batters to the plate, scoring three runs against another major league rehabber for the Marlins Carlos Martinez.  Smokies second baseman Gary Cates dealt a two run blow to the Mudcats with his one-out single.  Carolina (21-41) then tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth by an RBI Jai Miller single, to send the game to extra innings.

The Smokies leadoff hitter Casey McGehee reached base on a controversial walk to start the tenth inning. Mudcats reliever Blake McGinley never settled down after that, giving up three runs in the extra frame. McGinley picks up the loss, dropping his record to 1-5 on the season.

The Mudcats frustration continued to their portion of the 10th inning when third baseman Lee Mitchell was ejected from the top step of the Mudcats dugout. Mitchell was complaining over a checked swing call. Mudcats manager Brandon Hyde stood up for his third baseman and was also ejected.

Carolina will send Gaby Hernandez (2-6, 4.50) to the mound tomorrow night. Tennessee will send righty Mark Holliman (6-3, 2.39) for the 6:15 start.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E Tennessee 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 3 7 11 0 Carolina 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 6 1