Astros hold off Blue Jays for 7-5 road win
July 18, 2014 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Greeneville Astros News Release
Bluefield, WV - The Greeneville Astros (13-14) led the Bluefield Blue Jays (15-13) from start to finish at Bowen Field on Friday night on their way to a 7-5 win. The game was close throughout as the Blue Jays kept hanging around, but the Astros took advantage of a fast start and five Bluefield errors to conclude the three-game series with a victory.
In the first inning, a Sean McMullen single drove in the Astros' first run to give him a team-leading 21 RBI on the season. After that, with runners at first and third with one out, Yonathan Mejia grounded into a force out that scored Antonio Nunez to give the Astros an early 2-0 lead.
From that point on, the Blue Jays were fighting an uphill battle they never overcame, but they kept it close. In the second inning, with two outs, the Blue Jays cut the Astros' lead in half when Richard Urena was walked with the bases loaded.
In the fifth inning, the Astros increased their lead by capitalizing on two fielding errors by the Blue Jays that led to two runs. Then, with two outs, Cesar Carrasco drove in a another run on a RBI single to push the Astros lead to 5-1. However, the Blue Jays still would not go away easily.
The Blue Jays again answered with three runs of their own in the sixth inning to cut the Astros lead back down to one. All three runs came on RBI singles from Austin Davis and Josh Almonte with two outs.
In the seventh inning, the Astros again added to their slight lead with a solo homerun from Yonathan Mejia, his first of the season, and a Ydarqui Marte RBI single. However, the Blue Jays got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning on a Rolando Segovia sacrifice fly to make the score 7-5 in favor of the Astros.
Holding a two-run lead, Angel Heredia took the mound for the Astros in an attempt to close the game. Over the final two innings, Heredia allowed just one hit and struck out three to earn his first save.
Astros reliever Eric Peterson (1-0), who entered the game in the fourth inning, held the Blue Jays without a hit over 1.2 scoreless innings and struck out four batters to pick up his first professional win.
The Astros return home on Saturday to begin a three-game series against the Appalachian League East-leading Danville Braves (16-11). Game time is scheduled for 6:00pm.
Promotions for the game include a Jose Altuve jersey giveaway presented by Coca-Cola and History Night featuring the Tennessee Association of Vintage Baseball.
For more information on the Greeneville Astros, please visit www.greenevilleastros.com or call (423) 638-0411.
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Appalachian League Stories from July 18, 2014
- Astros hold off Blue Jays for 7-5 road win - Greeneville Astros
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