De Aza Drives in Two for Walk-Off Win
August 16, 2016 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Kingsport Axmen News Release
KINGSPORT, Tenn.- Much like Game 1's affair on Saturday night, the Kingsport Mets walked it off in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 3, on Monday night, to defeat the Greeneville Astros 5-4 following a two-run single to right field by Yeffry De Aza that brought Hunter Wright Stadium to its feet.
De Aza's game-winning single brought in both Jeremy Wolf and Jose Miguel Medina who singled consecutively to begin the frame and the hit came with two outs in the inning and with two strikes against De Aza at the plate.
Kingsport (19-33) now has some momentum heading into a one-game series at Pioneer Park Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m. against the Astros (26-26) in what will be the fourth-consecutive game played amongst the two squads. Greeneville's loss puts the club back at .500 on the season as the team has lost eight of its last 10 contests.
The walk-off win for Kingsport put an end to a back-and-forth contest where the two squads experienced four lead changes throughout the nine innings of baseball. The K-Mets got off to a quick start by scoring in the bottom of the first inning.
Ricardo Cespedes led off the frame with a single to right field and made it all the way to third base following a fielding error by Greeneville's starter Carlos Sanabria and a walk off Reed Gamache that loaded the bases with no outs.
Jose Maria followed by coming to the plate and grounding into a 6-4-3 double play, however, the groundball did score the first run of the contest as Kingsport took a 1-0 lead after one inning of play.
Two full-innings later in the top of the fourth frame, Greeneville put its first run on the scoreboard when Connor MacDonald drove in Stijn van der Meer from third base, who recorded the Astros' first hit of the contest two batters prior.
Another run would follow for Greeneville in the fifth inning when Reiny Beltre doubled with one out and scored on a wild pitch later in the frame.
Trailing for the first time in the game at 2-1, Kingsport responded in the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring two runs to retake the lead at 3-2 by inning's end.
De Aza recorded his first hit of the contest with a one-out single to left field. The short stop then came all the way around to score the tying run on a triple from Cespedes who followed suite. A batter later, Anthony Dimino drove in Cespedes with a run-scoring single and Kingsport had the lead once again.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Astros plated two more in frame that followed to retake the lead at 4-3.
Frankeny Fernandez reached first base with a one-out single, stole both second and third base, and then came around to score the tying run on a wild pitch that was thrown behind Raymond Henderson at the plate three batters. With Henderson still at the plate, the catcher doubled to plate Abraham Torro-Hernandez who walked earlier in the frame to take the lead once more.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the ninth inning when Wolf and Jose Miguel Medina crossed home plate for the tying and winning-run off the bat of De Aza's single to right field.
Jose Carlos Medina (2-1) picked up the win in relief after tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Gregorix Estevez pitched two scoreless innings as well while Kurtis Horne surrendered one run in two-thirds of an inning on the mound.
Darwin Ramos started the contest for Kingsport and pitched well while in search of his first win of the season. Though the right-hander did not take home a decision on the night, Ramos left the game with the lead in tact after tossing 5.1 innings of only two earned-run baseball while tallying seven strikeouts in the start.
The starter had a no-hitter going until the top of the fourth inning when van der Meer singled to center for the Astros first hit of the game. Still, Ramos faced the minimum twice on the night while inducing five groundball outs and the seven strikeouts during the outing.
Jorge Guzman (0-2) was charged with the loss after pitching the final 3.2 inning of the contest in relief. The hard-throwing right-hander was nearly untouchable in his first two innings of work as he stuck out five of the first six batters faced in the sixth and seventh innings.
Cespedes broke through first against Guzman to lead off the eighth inning, but was stranded at third base come inning's end. Wolf and Jose Miguel Medina began to cash in on the right-hander, however, in the top of the ninth with the consecutive-singles that began the frame and De Aza capped off the win with the two-run, three-hit walk-off effort.
Guzaman's fastball sat around 98 mph the entire night and touched 100 mph at least one time in every inning on the mound.
De Aza was the obvious hero on the night with the walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth as the short stop finished the contest with two hits and two RBIs. Cespedes tallied his first three-hit night of the season in the win while Jose Miguel Medina also picked up two hits.
The series concluded in two games to one in favor of Kingsport, Monday night at Hunter Wright Stadium, but the two teams are not done. Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m., there will be a best-of-one game series at Pioneer Park as the Greeneville Astros and Kingsport Mets battle for the 10th and final time on the year. The K-Mets currently hold a 5-4 record against the Astros in the 2016 season.
Coverage on the Kingsport Mets Baseball Network will begin at 11:15 a.m. with Eric Cain behind the mic bringing all the action from Pioneer Park.
Appalachian League Stories from August 16, 2016
- Astros Double up Mets, 8-4 - Greeneville Astros
- Consecutive Astros Runs Doom K-Mets - Kingsport Axmen
- De Aza Drives in Two for Walk-Off Win - Kingsport Axmen
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