Astros Win to Even Series with Twins
July 10, 2016 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Greeneville Astros News Release
Elizabethton, TN - The Greeneville Astros (7-11) defeated the Elizabethton Twins (7-10) on Sunday night at Joe O'Brien Field to even their three-game series at one apiece. The Astros 4-1 win came as a result of strong pitching and a well-balanced offense.
The Astros led the whole way as newcomer Troy Sieber, a first baseman recently called up from the Gulf Coast League Astros, connected on a RBI single in the top of the first inning. The score had been set up by a Raymond Henderson double just before the recent 24th round draft pick came up for his first at-bat with his new club.
The score remained 1-0 through six innings due in large part to Greeneville's pitching. Tyler Britton started the game and struck out six over four scoreless innings while surrendering just four hits with no walks. Then Nathan Thompson, who would go on to earn his first professional win, came on to pitch the next four innings and gave up one run on two hits and struck out three.
After the second through sixth innings went scoreless, both teams scored a run apiece in the seventh. The Astros got a one-out double from Marcos Almonte to get a man in scoring position before he came home on a Tyler Wolfe RBI single. However, Elizabethton's Amaurys Minier homered to lead off the bottom of the inning and the Astros were back to a one-run lead.
When the Astros came back up in the top of the eighth, Jonathan Arauz once again got them in scoring position with a one-out double. Luis Payano followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Then a Vicente Sanchez ground out scored a run, and a throwing error moved Payano to third. Finally, Almonte knocked a ground ball single into right field to score Payano and give the Astros a 4-1 lead.
Thompson finished his night with a three up, three down inning in the eighth before turning the game over to Salvador Montaño in the ninth. The left-hander got two quick outs on the Twins before two runners got on with an error and a walk, but no harm was done as Montaño was credited with his first career save after the third and final out came on a fly ball to Payano in shallow right field.
The Astros finished the game with four runs on 11 hits, including four doubles. In total, eight different Astros collected a hit with two hits apiece coming from Almonte, Wolfe, and Gabriel Bracamonte.
The Astros and Twins will face each other in the series rubber match on Monday at 7:00pm. Right-hander Abdiel Saldana is set to get the start for Greeneville.
The Astros are the Appalachian League affiliate of the Houston Astros. For more information, visit www.greenevilleastros.com or call (423) 638-0411.
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