ApL Kingsport Axmen

K-Mets Split Doubleheader with E-Town

Published on August 2, 2014 under Appalachian League (ApL)
Kingsport Axmen News Release


KINGSPORT, Tenn. (August 1, 2014) - It was one step forward, one step back for the Kingsport Mets on Friday night in the Appalachian League West Division race.

The K-Mets won the opener 1-0 behind a sterling pitching performance by Andrew Church, then dropped a 3-1 decision in the nightcap to split their doubleheader with the division-leading Elizabethton Twins at Hunter Wright Stadium.

Last year's division champ, Kingsport (20-21) still can pull within three games of the division lead if it wins tonight's rubber game with the Twins. That contest is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. As it is, the K-Mets trail Greeneville by 1 1/2 games for second place in the West, and a spot in the playoffs.

More pitching performances like the one from Church will carry this team to the postseason. The Mets' second-round pick in 2013 went the distance in the seven-inning game, allowing four hits and a walk while tallying five strikeouts. Church (2-4) no-hit the Twins through the first 3 1-3 innings and never allowed a runner beyond second base.

All the scoring in the opener came in the first inning. Luis Guillorme led off with a single to left, eventually coming home on a double play grounder by Oswald Caraballo.

Elizabethton struck first in game two, with Alex Real scoring on a passed ball after leading off the inning with a single. Kingsport answered to tie it in the third on Eudor Garcia's two-run, two-out single that plated Guillorme.

The Twins took control for good, putting two men on with one out in the fifth to chase starter Andrew Massie. Reliever Blake Beeler struggled, giving up an RBI single to Blake Schmit, then throwing a wild pitch that allowed an insurance run to score.

Kingsport only had two base runners the rest of the way. Ironically, the K-Mets' best chance to score again came just before the Twins' game-winning rally. Kingsport loaded the bases with no one out in the fourth, but Twins starter Michael Cederoth escaped the jam by catching back-to-back hitters looking on strikes and inducing an inning-ending grounder to first base.

K-METRICS: Hits with men in scoring position were hard to come by during Friday's twin bill. Kingsport and Elizabethton combined to go 2-for-17 in the nightcap, and went hitless in nine cumulative opportunities with runners at second and/or third in the opening game.

NOTES: Wuilmer Becerra went 2-for-4 with a double in the nightcap. He was one of four K-Met position players to play both games, although Eudor Garcia was the designated hitter for game two after playing third in the opener. ... Nick Gordon, the Twins' first-round pick in June's draft and the son of former big-league reliever Tom Gordon, played the opener at shortstop and went 0-for-3. ... J.C. Rodriguez had two of Kingsport's five hits in the first game. ... Keaton Steele (1-1) got his first professional win after two scoreless innings of relief in the nightcap for Elizabethton. Dereck Rodriguez pitched around a two-out double in the ninth for his fourth save. ... Nicco Blank and Matt Blackham each threw a perfect inning of relief in the nightcap for Kingspot.

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