Astros blast 3 homers, beat Cardinals 7-3
August 28, 2014 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Greeneville Astros News Release
Johnson City, TN - The Greeneville Astros (32-32) had to get a win on Wednesday night to stay alive in their quest to return to the Appalachian League playoffs for the second consecutive year. With a 7-3 victory over the host Johnson City Cardinals (35-31) combined with a loss by the Kingsport Mets (33-33), the Astros are now just two wins away from completing that mission.
After two scoreless innings to start the game, the Astros got on the scoreboard first in the top of the third. Randy Cesar, a new third baseman who just arrived in Greeneville earlier in the day after being called up from the Gulf Coast League, led off the inning with a single in his first at-bat. After moving to third on a balk and a sacrifice bunt, Cesar scored the first run of the game on a bunt by Jeffry Santos. Then, before the end of the inning, Bryan Muniz connected on a RBI single for the first of his four hits on the night to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, the Cardinals answered with a Carlos Torres RBI single to cut into the Astros' lead. However, the Astros were just getting started as they would go on to have three straight two-run innings.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, Hector Roa and newcomer Randy Cesar each went deep with back-to-back solo shots. Then Jacob Nottingham followed in the fifth inning with a two-run homer, his team-leading fifth of the year, to push the Astros' lead to 6-1. The three home runs for the team in a single game set a new season-high.
Over the next two innings, the Cardinals got a Chris Rivera RBI double and a Casey Grayson RBI single to pull within three scores. However, the Astros got one more run on a Hector Roa RBI single in the ninth to conclude the scoring.
The Astros finished game with seven runs on 14 hits. Although they were led by Muniz going four-for-five, the Astros still had five others with two hits apiece. Meanwhile, the Cardinals finished with three runs on seven hits with three errors.
After striking out three, walking three, and giving up one run on two hits over the first five innings, starter Agapito Barrios (5-0) earned the win for the Astros. It was his team-leading fifth win of the season.
With the win, the Astros improved their record to 6-1 against the Cardinals on the season. If the Astros are able to defeat the Cardinals over the final two games on the schedule, they will conclude the season with a slightly higher winning percentage and, therefore, join the Elizabethton Twins (37-29) as one of the two playoff teams coming out of the Appalachian League West.
The Astros will return to Cardinal Park for game two against Johnson City on Thursday. Game time is scheduled for 7:00pm.
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