Castro, Arauz lead way but Astros fall short
June 26, 2016 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Greeneville Astros News Release
Greeneville, TN- The Greeneville Astros and Johnson City Cardinals battled in the deciding game of their season opening series on Saturday night at Pioneer Park. The Cardinals took game one while the Astros won game two, both in high-scoring affairs. However, runs were harder to come by in the rubber match and, despite a late Astros rally attempt, the Cardinals held on for a 5-3 win.
The game started off with the Cardinals' Yariel Gonzalez getting on with a one-out double and scoring on a fielding error with two outs in the inning. Although the scoring was limited to a single run, the Cardinals would maintain their slim lead well into the night.
Astros starting pitcher Ricardo Castro was able to hold the Cardinals over the next four innings. The lefty, who signed with the Astros out of Mexico in 2015, had a total of seven strikeouts over five innings to help the Astros on the defensive side.
The Astros put their first run on the board in the seventh inning. Bryan De La Cruz and Luis Payano both hit singles. The third batter up to the plate was Jonathan Arauz who hit a sacrifice bunt and made it to first on a throwing error by the Cardinals to load the bases. Then, with one out, Vincente Sanchez hit a sacrifice fly to left field to advance the runners and score Cruz. However, on the throw in, the ball skipped past third into foul territory so Payano attempted to score but was thrown out at home for the third out.
In the top of the eighth, the Cardinals bounced back to score four runs and regain the lead. Joshua Lopez connected on a three-run homer followed by a Jonathan Rivera score on a wild pitch to put Johnson City on top, 5-1.
The Astros were unable to get anything going in the eighth, but fought their way back into the game in the bottom of the ninth. Spencer Johnson led off with a walk and later scored off a wild pitch with two outs. Then Jonathan Arauz, who was making his first appearance in a Greeneville uniform, hit a homer to right field to make the score 5-3. However, the Astros were ultimately unable complete the rally.
The Astros will be on the road for the next six games. Their first stop is in Bristol to play the Pirates with Framber Valdez listed as the starting pitcher on Sunday night at 6:00pm. After their three-game series with the Pirates, the Astros will head to Princeton to play the Rays. The next home game for the Astros will be on Saturday, July 2 against the Kingsport Mets.
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