By Tyler Springs
The Jackson Generals, the Double-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks, used a fantastic effort from Cole Stapler (3-0, 3.25 ERA) to pace a 6-0 defeat of the Mobile BayBears on Thursday at The Ballpark at Jackson.
The win for Jackson (61-47) is their eighth this season against Mobile (41-67), ensuring that they will win the season series against the BayBears.
Jackson is tied with Birmingham for second in the Southern League’s North Division – 3.5 games behind Montgomery.
The 24-year-old Stapler weathered a handful of hiccups en route to tying a career-high mark with 11 strikeouts of Mobile hitters.
Stapler stranded a pair of runners in the first inning who had reached base with two outs, and he marooned two more in the second inning and one in the third as Jackson clung to a 2-0 lead. Stapler finally fell into a rhythm at the end of the third frame, retiring ten in a row to advance to the seventh inning before issuing a lead-off walk.
After a single put two men on for Mobile, Stapler knuckled down and put the next three men away, finishing with a career-high 103 pitches. In relief, Matt Brill and Cameron Gann each worked scoreless frames, and the Generals improved to 51-17 when handing off a lead to the bullpen. The double-digit strikeout total for Stapler was the first for a Jackson starter since Riley Smith’s ten-strikeout effort against Mississippi back on June 10.
Offensively, the Generals jabbed Jeremy Beasley (5-6, 3.95 ERA) early, claiming a pair of first-inning runs on consecutive RBI singles from Pavin Smith and Drew Ellis.
Smith would become important again in the fifth inning, smoking an RBI double to center field to score Galli Cribbs Jr. and stretch the Jackson advantage to 3-0. A wacky sixth inning featured three walks and a two-run error by Mobile that put the Generals in front 5-0, and a run-scoring single by L.T. Tolbert in the eighth inning plated Jeffrey Baez to make the lead 6-0.
Tolbert picked up his first multi-hit game as a General and drove in his first Double-A run on Thursday, while Baez scored twice and Smith tacked on his team-leading 25th multi-hit game of the season. The shutout was Jackson’s first since July 23 against Montgomery.
The five-game series with Mobile continues at The Ballpark at Jackson, at 6:05 p.m., today.
Game Highlight: Pay-It-Forward Friday
Friday nights this season will feature brand new “tri-star” jerseys that make use of the three-star design of the Tennessee state flag. This jersey coincides with Jackson’s new Pay-It-Forward theme, which will create customized single-night opportunities for community non-profit organizations to celebrate and create awareness for their brands and causes.
Saturday Promotion: Vacation Raffle
Whether classics or new releases are your pitch, make them a hit and join the Generals in celebrating a wide range of Disney productions! Recent Disney films like Toy Story 4 and 2019 live-action versions of Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King will be among the many themes and characters that will inspire The Ballpark at Jackson’s production staff on this night. As an added bonus, a Disney vacation will be raffled off to one lucky family in attendance.
Game Highlight: Fireworks Night
The Generals continue a terrific postgame fireworks show, Saturday.
