The Jacksonville Suns (30-33, 67-66) won 6-2 over the Tennessee Smokies (36-27, 79-54) at Smokies Park on Sunday evening.
The Suns were led by starting pitcher Brad Hand (11-4) who was dominant on the mound as well as at the plate in Jacksonville’s first victory of the series. Hand threw five and two thirds innings without giving up a run, and the Smokies scattered five hits against him as he picked up his eleventh win with the Suns.
Hand’s strong performance at the plate began with his first at-bat in the top of the third. Hand hit a leadoff homer off Tennessee starter Ryan Searle (5-3) to give Jacksonville a 1-0 lead. The blast was Hand’s first professional home run, and Jacksonville would not relinquish the lead. Jacksonville added a run in the top of the third with Jim Negrych hitting a sacrifice fly to put the Suns up 2-0.
The Suns struck for four runs in the top of the sixth inning to put the game out of reach. Once again Hand did the damage, driving in a pair of runs on a single to extend the Jacksonville lead to 4-0. Hand finished the game at the plate 2-2 with a homer, three runs batted in, and two runs scored. Hand was brought home on a Jeremy Synan RBI triple, and then Synan scored on a single by Negrych that put Jacksonville ahead 6-0.
Synan led the Suns at the plate with his 3-4 performance that included a RBI and he finished a home run away from the cycle as he hit a single, double, and triple.
The Smokies would add two runs off Jacksonville reliever Kyle Kaminska in the bottom of the eighth, but Jeff Allison came in from the bullpen and got the final four outs without giving up a run, preserving Jacksonville’s 6-2 win.
The Suns and Smokies will play the fourth game of the five-game series on Monday night at Smokies Park. Left-handed pitcher Jose Alvarez (2-4, 4.97 ERA) will pitch for Jacksonville while right-hander Trey McNutt (4-5, 4.55 ERA) will pitch for Tennessee. Monday’s game will start at 7:15 p.m.
