ApL Kingsport Axmen

Offense Shines in Dominate Win over Pirates

August 8, 2016 - Appalachian League (ApL)
Kingsport Axmen News Release


BRISTOL, Va.-The Kingsport Mets snapped their five-game losing skid in a big way Sunday night by taking down the Bristol Pirates 18-5 while utilizing 20 hits in Game 1 of a three-game Appalachian League slate from Boyce Cox Field.

Sparked by a Jeremy Wolf grand slam in the top of the first inning, the K-Mets (16-28) scored four runs in the first inning, five runs in innings three and four and four more runs throughout the game's final five innings to cruise to their first win in six tries.

With the loss, Bristol (17-26) are now only 1-4 against the league's worst record team in the Kingsport Mets. The K-Mets took a three-game series earlier in the season at Hunter Wright Stadium in 2-1 fashion following a 15-3, 12-run win in Game 3 of the series. The contest was the previous season-high in runs scored and margin of defeat for the K-Mets all season long.

Sunday's win against the Pirates set new season-high marks in the categories as Kingsport scored 18 runs on the night to defeat Bristol by 13 runs by game's end.

Nicholas Economos (1-4), Bristol's starting pitcher on the night, surrendered two walks and a single in the top of the first inning to load the bases for Kingsport's cleanup hitter, Wolf. With no outs in the frame and the bases full of K-Mets, Wolf drove his second home run of the season over the right-center field wall to give Kingsport their first lead in four games.

Wolf narrowly missed out on a grand slam earlier in the season in a contest against the Johnson City Cardinals on July 28 at TVA Credit Union Ballpark when the bases-loaded drive from Wolf hit off the top of the right field wall and resulted in only a two-run double.

The Pirates would cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second inning as the club sent eight men to the plate to score two runs off three hits.

Three-consecutive hits began the frame as Jhoan Herrera doubled and Huascar Fuentes singled behind to put two runners at the corners for Adrian Valerio with no outs. The short stop followed suit with an RBI double to score one run. A sacrifice fly from Deybi Garcia then scored Fuentes two batters later and the Kingsport lead was cut in half at 4-2 after two innings of play.

The K-Mets then batted-around in each of the next two innings to scoring five runs in each frame and put the game out of reach by the bottom of the fourth inning.

RBI knocks from Franklin Correa, Ricardo Cespedes and William Barring plated the first five runs in the third inning while run scoring hits again from Cespedes and Barring scored an additional three runs in the inning that followed. A passed ball and a throwing error enabled for another two runs to cross home plate in the fourth inning as the K-Mets' lead grew to 14-2 midway through the fourth inning of play.

Both teams would plate a run in the fifth inning.

Kingsport's Scott Manea, who made his Appalachian League debut for the K-Mets Sunday night following a promotion from the Gulf Coast League two days prior, grounded in Correa who led off the frame with a triple.

Bristol then scored its third run of the contest in the bottom of the inning when Herrera drove in Henrry Rosario from second base after leading off the frame with a double.

Following an RBI single from Correa in the top of the sixth inning, the Pirates would score two runs in the bottom of the frame. Garret Brown, the ninth hitter in Bristol's lineup, drove in Valerio for run No. 4 on the night for the home team and Rosario flew out to center field to plate Raul Siri later in the inning for the club's fifth and final run of the night.

Kingsport would score two more runs on the night in the top of the seventh inning. Barring drove in his fourth run of the night with a single to right field after both Ian Strom and Yeffrey De Aza reached base prior to begin the inning. Anthony Dimino then followed with a double to plate the 18th and final run of the contest in Kingsport's offensive-happy night.

Adonis Uceta (3-5) picked up the much needed win on the mound following five innings of six-hit baseball. The right-hander yielded three runs on the night and punched out four batters via strikeouts. Jose Carlos Medina pitched two innings of two-run ball in relief while Placido Torres and Trent Johnson capped off the eighth and ninth innings in scoreless fashion.

Economos was tabbed with the loss for Bristol after surrendering nine runs in only 2.1 innings of work in the start. Four other relievers came into the contest to toss the final 7.2 of the ballgame.

K-Mets skipper Luis Rivera showed off a new-look lineup card prior to the contest. The manager reaped the rewards of the changeups while seeing his team score 18 runs off 20 hits in the outing.

Barring, who acted as the leadoff man for Kingsport on the night, put forth a career-game with a 3-for-6 effort and 4 RBIs. Following the first inning grand slam, Wolf tallied two more hits on the night to also finish with four RBIs in the game. Dimino and Strom put together three-hit nights as well, plating a combined two runs in the contest while Cespedes finished the game with two hits and three runs batted in.

Correa led all batters with four hits on the night while also driving in two runs. He, along with Wolf, were just one hit shy of the cycle as early as the fifth inning. Correa lacked only a home run in the chase while Wolf needed a triple to complete the feat.

Every batter in Kingsport's lineup recorded a hit on the night, excluding Manea who finished the contest 0-for-4 with an RBI and a walk. De Aza and Reed Gamache were the only two batters who did not record an RBI in the game.

Kingsport will look to carry the offensive momentum into Game 2's action that is set to take place at Boyce Cox Field Monday night at 7:00 p.m. Coverage on the Kingsport Mets Baseball Network can be found at kmets.com or on the TuneIn application beginning at 6:45 p.m. with Eric Cain beginning you all the actin from behind the mic. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.

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