ApL Kingsport Axmen

K-Mets Drop Finale with Greeneville, 10-3

July 5, 2016 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Kingsport Axmen News Release


KINGSPORT, Tenn.-The Kingsport Mets dropped the final game of a four-game series with the Greeneville Astros 10-3 Tuesday night after a weather delay forced first pitch to be thrown an hour and 20 minutes after the original scheduled time of 7:00 p.m.

At 8:20 p.m. the game officially started and was scoreless through the first three and a half innings before the K-Mets (4-9) broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Consecutive doubles to begin the frame from Will Barring and Jose Maria gave Kingsport an excellent opportunity to put a few runs on the board, but with the infield playing in towards the grass, Walter Rasquin lined a ball off the bat straight towards Raymond Henderson at second base. Henderson would make the catch and then step on the bag to double up Maria who slid in late due to the line-drive out.

With two away in the inning, Barring was still standing on third base, 90 feet away from scoring, when Anthony Dimino came to the plate. Tyler Britton began his windup before stopping and stepping towards the third base bag. A balk was called and Barring trotted in from third base to score the first run of the ball game.

The 1-0 Kingsport lead was short-lived, however, as K-Mets' starter Jordan Humphreys (1-2) ran into a heap of trouble on the mound to begin the fifth. The right hander yielded a leadoff single to Connor MacDonald who was then brought in by an RBI double from Ruban Castro a batter later. Chaz Pal would then follow with an RBI double of his own to give Greeneville (5-8) its first lead of the game at 2-1.

After Vincente Sanchez grounded out to Rasquin at second base, Henderson would deliver an RBI single to left field scoring another run. Marcos Almonte would then double to put runners at second and third with only one away, giving Tyler Wolfe an opportunity to bring in some more insurance.

Wolfe grounded the first pitch he saw from Humphreys to Yeffrey De Aza at third base to bring in the fourth run of the inning. The score was 4-1 Astros after four innings of play.

Prior to the disastrous fifth inning, Humphreys had not given up a hit all night and had three strikeouts through his first four innings of work. The former 18th round selection from the 2015 June Armature Draft took the loss after going five innings of five hit baseball, four runs off four strikeouts.

Jose Carlos Medina would then come on to pitch the top of the sixth inning for Kingsport. The southpaw surrendered a leadoff double to Justin Garcia and then later walked Pal to put two men on with two outs. Sanchez would then send a 1-0 fastball over the left field wall for a three-run home run-extending Greeneville's lead to 7-1.

Jose Miguel Medina would tally a run for the home team in the bottom half the frame as the outfielder singled and later came around to score on a wild pitch from Bryan Abreu.

The Astros would answer in the inning that followed as MacDonald doubled in Wolfe who singled with one away. Greeneville would then score an additional two runs in the top of the eighth inning on Henderson's two-run line-drive home run to left field.

Kingsport's third run of the contest came in the prior half inning when De Aza scored from third base on a throwing error from Astros' catcher Castro.

Greeneville's 10-3 win Tuesday night was the second win of the series for the Astros as the squad split the four-game slate with the K-Mets. Kingsport dropped Game 1, 6-2 at Pioneer Park but would then rebound to shutout the Astros 11-0 on Sunday and win in come-from-behind fashion Monday night on Independence Day.

Britton (2-1) picked up the win for the Astros after pitching three innings out of the bullpen. The righty surrendered only three hits and two runs while striking out four on Tuesday night.

Kingsport will be back in action Wednesday evening as the squad welcomes the western division-leading Johnson City Cardinals to Hunter Wright Stadium for Game 1 of a three-game series. Jake Simon (0-2) will take the hill for the K-Mets as a starter for the Cardinals has yet to be determined.

Gates will begin opening at 6:00 p.m. and if you are not attending Wednesday night's contest, tune into kmets.com for a live broadcast of the ball game. Eric Cain will jump on the air at 6:45 for the pregame show.

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Appalachian League Stories from July 5, 2016


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