AirHogs Greg Smith Selected American Association Pitcher of the Week
While Josh Rainwater's seven shutout innings to earn the American Association Pitcher of the Week award in the first week of the season was impressive enough, Grand Prairie AirHogs lefty Greg Smith topped that performance on May 17 against the Lincoln Saltdogs. With one of the best handful of games ever pitched in the franchise's short history, Smith hurled a complete game, five-hit shutout, allowing all singles and no walks or hit batters, struck out nine and faced only two over the minimum.
That performance earned Smith the AirHogs' second American Association Pitcher of the Week honors, as selected by Pointstreak, the official statistician of the American Association.
The lefty from Alexandria, La., got off to a slow start on opening day, but pitched six strong innings in a no-decision against the Gary SouthShore RailCats. But he was superb against Lincoln, getting a caught stealing and two pickoffs along with a double play to help erase his baserunners. After the Saltdogs had two on in the first inning, they would not do so again, and in fact had no baserunners from a fifth-inning double play to a two-out single in the ninth.
Smith threw 120 pitches for the American Association's first complete game shutout of the year as the AirHogs beat the Saltdogs 4-0.
