SAL1 Asheville Tourists

Third Time's a Charm - T's Win 6-5 in 11

Published on July 22, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Asheville Tourists News Release


In the third extra-inning game of the series between the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Asheville Tourists, Brian Rike's single to deep centerfield gave Asheville its first extra-inning win between the two teams by a 6-5 score in 11 innings.

With two outs, Brian Rike took the first pitch off Moises Melendez to center, where it was nearly caught by TJ Warren. He couldn't come up with the catch and the Tourists walked off with their first win of the series to make a winner of Matthew Reynolds (4-1). A night ago, Reynolds was the losing pitcher for Asheville in a ten-inning loss to Lakewood.

The Tourists battled back from a four-run deficit to tie the game and even take a brief lead in the middle innings. Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the third, Asheville tallied a run when Darin Holcomb reached on an error, then put another across in the fourth when Bo Bowman reached on an error to score Everth Cabrera. Then in the sixth, the Tourists broke out the big lumber with solo home runs by Velazquez and David Christensen, the latter of which was a towering shot deep beyond the left-field fence to give the Tourists a 5-4 lead.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as the BlueClaws pushed across the game-tying run off Edgmer Escalona. The big righty allowed back-to-back singles before recording a strikeout. Escalona then got Mike Durant to hit a ground ball to Holcomb at third, who fired to Cabrera at second for the first out but Cabrera's throw to first was not in time, allowing Derrick Mitchell to score from third to tie. Neither team threatened the rest of the way, sending the game to extras for the third straight night.

Asheville picked up its first lead of the entire series in the first inning when Holcomb reached on an error to score Michael Mitchell. That, too, would be a short-lived lead with the BlueClaws answering in the top of the second on Joel Naughton's RBI single and a wild pitch to score Freddy Galvis. The lead grew by a pair in the third on Durant's 13th home run of the year. Sheng-An Kuo provided his second solid outing in a no-decision, firing six innings himself and allowing three earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts, all while surviving five walks.

Reymond Cruz (0-1) was tagged with the loss for the BlueClaws, tossing 2.2 innings of relief and putting the winning run on base by virtue of Cabrera's single in the 12th. Starter Vance Worley pitched six innings, allowing just two earned runs while striking out five.

The homestand and series will come to an end on Wednesday with Bruce Billings (7-7, 4.03) taking the ball for the Tourists. He'll face Julian Sampson (6-3) on another Seniors Eat Free Night, compliments of Humana. All seniors receive a free sandwich, chips and a drink. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. and the game can be heard on the Tourists flagship station WRES-FM, 100.7.

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South Atlantic League Stories from July 22, 2008


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