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 Johnson City Doughboys

Cards Fall 7-4

August 28, 2014 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Johnson City Doughboys News Release


JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - The Johnson City Cardinals fell to the Kingsport Mets 7-3 at ETSU's Thomas Stadium on Sunday night. Kingsport rallied with five runs in the last three innings to seal the deal after being behind 3-0 through four innings.

Johnson City (25-23) was off to a solid start as they scored first by putting up a two-spot in the third inning. Casey Turgeon started the inning with a single up the middle. Oscar Mercado then drew a walk to put two runners on. Casey Grayson was then able to get his thirteenth double of the year to score Turgeon and Mercado, which made it 2-0 after three innings.

The Cardinals tacked on another in the fourth to extend their lead to three. Jesus Ustariz walked, a pitch hit Devante Lacy and Anthony Ray singled to center field to load the bases with nobody out. After a strikeout, Mercado then reached on an error by the Mets' second baseman, Branden Kaupe, who dropped the ball trying to tag Ray as he went to second. The error allowed Ustariz to score and made it 3-0.

Kingsport (25-25) then decided to answer the Cards for the first time of the night in the top of the fifth. Kaupe reached on a fielding error by shortstop Mercado with one out. The next pitch, Carlos Jean Rodriguez made the Cardinals pay for their mistake as he hit a two-run home run over the 325-mark in right field. It was the third homer for Rodriguez this season and made the score 3-2 quickly.

The Red Birds went silently in the fifth, but in the sixth they extended their back to multiple runs. Turgeon and Mercado led off the inning with back-to-back walks then a Blake Drake sacrifice bunt put them both in scoring position with only one out. Grayson was then intentionally walked to load the bases. Chris Rivera followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Turgeon for the Cards' fourth run of the game, which made it 4-2.

The Mets were able to get one back in the seventh when they pieced together three consecutive hits with two outs from Kaupe, Rodriguez, and Oswald Caraballo. Carabollo's hit was a double to right field that scored Kaupe to cut the defecit to 4-3 as they started their comeback.

In the eighth, the Mets continued to capitalize on Cardinal mistakes. Kingsport added two runs on just one single, one error, and two free passes. Wuilmer Becerra walked then an error on Rivera allowed Luis Ortega to reach. Becerra and Ortega both stole a base to move 90 feet while Mathieu was at the plate. Mathieu then knocked in Becerra with single to left field. Ortega scored three batters later on a groundout to second by Kaupe to give the Mets their first lead at 5-4.

Kingsport was then able to add two more runs of insurance in the ninth inning. Becerra and Ortega both scored the runs once again, while Mathieu and Wilson had the two hits in the final frame.

Johnson City finished 3-20 with runners in scoring position in the game and left 14 runners on the base path in the loss that ended their six-game win streak. Juan Caballero entered in the eighth for the Cards and earned the loss while also taking the blown save. Matt Blackham was the winning pitcher for the Mets, who got back to even on the season.

The Mets and Cardinals will be back in action on Monday night at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Park. Monday night will also be the last chance for fans to attend a Bank of Tennessee Dollar Monday at Cardinal Park.


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