From staff reports

Opening night at Trustmark Park had plenty of drama. It just didn’t have a win for the home team.

Travis Jones popped out to first base with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mississippi Braves lost 4-3 to the Tennessee Smokies on Thursday in the Southern League’s season opener.

It was the fifth time in six seasons the M-Braves have lost their season-opener since moving to Pearl from Greenville, S.C.

Starlin Castro tripled, scored a run and drove in another for Tennessee, and Ty Wright had two RBIs on a sacrifice fly in the third inning and a single in the fifth. Castro, who had tripled, scored on Wright’s single to give the Smokies a 4-0 lead.

Cody Johnson went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for the M-Braves. His three-run homer to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning cut Tennessee’s lead to 4-3. The M-Braves, though, wasted a pair of opportunities in the later innings.

Willie Cabrera drew a two-out walk in the seventh inning but was thrown out trying to steal second base.

In the ninth, the M-Braves loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks and a single by Johnson. Jones came in as a pinch-hitter and popped out to first base to end it.

Reliever David Cales, the second of six pitchers used by Tennessee, allowed one hit in 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win. Dustin Sasser faced the last three batters in the ninth and picked up the save. Starter Andrew Cashner had 10 strikeouts — including seven in a row at one point, and nine of the first 10 batters he faced — in 4 1/3 innings.

M-Braves starter Mike Minor gave up four runs on six hits in five innings and took the loss. He struck out six and walked two.

Game two of the five-game series is tonight at 7:05 at Trustmark Park. Kyle Cofield will get the start for the M-Braves against Tennessee’s Jeremy Papelbon, the younger brother of Boston Red Sox closer and former Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon.