Stars fall victim to walk-off blast on Independence Day

By Aaron Morse
Robinson Chirinos hit a three-run homer off Eddie Morlan in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Tennessee Smokies (8-5, 50-32) to a 6-3 win over the Huntsville Stars (5-8, 38-45) on Independence Day.
It was the Smokies who got on the board first when Stars’ starter Mark Rogers struggled with his control in the first inning. The hard-throwing right hander walked the first two batters of the game before bouncing back to strike-out Matthew Spencer. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet and Stars’ killer Blake Lalli singled to left to score Tony Campana.
Rogers settled down despite walking another batter in the first and five in the game. The Lalli single would be the only offense the Smokies could muster as he went five innings, giving up the lone run and striking out six.
Lucas Luetge relieved Rogers in the sixth and surrendered a run on a bizarre play. With one away Josh Vitters singled and Brandon Guyer doubled. Luetge struck out Nate Sampson, only to have the ball bounce away from Dayton Buller and Vitters came in to make the score 2-0. The Stars argued that the ball had gone off the bat of Sampson to no avail.
Tony Thomas gave Tennessee some insurance with a solo blast to lead-off the seventh.
The Stars mounted a furious rally against reliever Aaron Shafer in the eighth. Back-to-back singles from Caleb Gindl and Zelous Wheeler set up Drew Anderson with a RBI opportunity. The powerful lefty did not disappoint as he doubled to center to score both runners. Taylor Green bunted him to third and Steffan Wilson drove him home with a ground-out.
With the game tied, the Stars called upon Morlan who tossed a scoreless eighth. But the ninth inning did not go as well as Tony Thomas doubled with one away. With two away, the Stars walked Lalli to set up a play at any base. The move back-fired when Chirinos went yard to end the game.
The Stars will try to even the series as they send Amaury Rivas to the mound Monday night. Join us on the Stars Radio Network beginning at 6pm central time with the Window World Pre-Game Report.