Butler does it again, gets rewarded with win

By Aaron Morse

Josh Butler (2-4) scattered five hits over seven innings of shutout baseball as the Huntsville Stars (7-8, 40-45) knocked off the Tennessee Smokies (8-7, 50-34) by a final score of 3-0 in Tuesday’s rubber match of their three game set.

For Butler it was his third outing in his last four trips to the mound where he did not surrender an earned run. Last time out he took a no-decision as the Stars lost in 15 innings to the Lookouts.

Tuesday was different. He did not have a 1-2-3 inning until the fifth, but the Smokies left six men on base and the Stars turned three double plays behind him on defense. For awhile he was going toe to toe with Smokies’ starter Craig Muschko, who tossed five shutout innings of his own.

Once Muschko left the game, the Stars’ offense finally pushed a run across in the sixth against reliever Jeremy Papelbon (1-1). Brett Lawrie, who became the first player in the SL this year to reach 100 hits as he went 2-5 today, tallied hit number 101 with a lead-off single to left. Caleb Gindl followed with a single of his own.

One out later the Stars showed off some of their trademark aggressiveness as they pulled off a double steal. The move turned out to be huge as Steffan Wilson smacked a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Lawrie and giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.

Butler worked around a lead-off single in the sixth and a two-out single in the seventh. His last pitch of the game was a beauty that left pinch hitter Blake Lalli standing at the station. He finished the day with six strikeouts, while he only walked two.

Huntsville feasted on the Smokies’ bullpen again in the eighth inning. Zelous Wheeler pinch hit for Butler and singled to left against new pitcher Ryan Buchter. A wild pitch advanced him to second and one out later Gindl drew a walk. Buchter suffered from more wildness as he hit Drew Anderson to load the bases.

Wilson, already with the Stars’ lone RBI of the day singled to left, plating Wheeler and Gindl and extending the Stars’ lead to 3-0.

Nick Green tossed a scoreless eighth and Jim Henderson picked up his second save in as many nights and fifth on the year with a perfect ninth inning.

With the win the Stars take two of three from the Smokies and improve to 6-7 on the year against the Cubs’ affiliate. It marks the Stars’ first series victory of the second half as they dropped four of six to Jacksonville and split a six-game set with Chattanooga previously. It’s the Stars’ first series win on the road since they took four of five from Birmingham back in late April, early May.

Huntsville heads to Chattanooga Wednesday for a four-game series before the All-Star break. Set your alarms as the game starts at 10:15am central time on the Stars Radio Network.