Kingsport makes the most of E-Twins errors

Saturday: Kingsport 6 at Elizabethton 13

W: C. Leavitt (4-1, 4.72); L: O. Melendez (3-2, 7.34)
HR: KNG: W. Flores (7), D. McNulty (4). ELI: E. Bigley 2 (6), N. Romero (5), D. De La Osa (3).

The bats were booming for the Elizabethton Twins as they took the first game in Saturday's double header, 13-6. Curtis Leavitt would pick up the win, despite allowing 5 runs, earned, on 8 hits and a walk, while fanning 5 over five innings.

The K-Mets would get Charles Doyle all the way to 3rd base, helped by a pair of wild pitches from Leavitt before Seth Williams ground out to end the inning. They would not be so lucky in the top of the second, as Stefan Welch doubled. Two outs later, Douglas McNulty went yard for his fourth home run of the season, putting a fly ball over the left field fence.

Elizabethton responded in the bottom of the second though with Michael Harrington taking a walk of Mets' starter Oscar Melendez. Evan Bigley put his fifth home run of the year over the left field wall to tie up the game. Jeff Lanning followed that up with a singled. After Adam Severino stuck out swinging, James Beresford singled, moving Lanning to second. Dominic De La Osa then blasted a ball over the left field wall for his 3rd home run of the season, adding three more runs to E-Twins total.

Doyle would double in the top of the 3rd with one out on the board, and come home on Wilmer Flores single. Williams would single as well and a throwing error by Bigley put Flores at 3rd and Williams at 2nd, but Welch would go down on strikes while Pedro Zapata hit into a ground out, stranding the runners.

Harrington and Bigley hit back-to-back singles and Lanning would double them in. Severino took a walk and K-Mets field Manager Pedro Lopez took a walk out to the mound to take the ball from Melendez. Travis Babin would come into replace him. Babin lead off with a wild pitch that moved the runners, but would get Bereford out on strikes. He'd then plunk De La Osa with a pitch to load the bags. Nick Romero stepped up to the plate and blasted his fifth home run ball of the year over the right field wall for a grand slam. Jon Waltenbury would take walk before Alex Soto went down on strikes to end the inning.

Bigley went yard again in the bottom of the 4th, launching his 6th of the year over the right field wall.

Charles Doyle doubled off Leavitt in the top of the 5th and Flores followed that up with a home run over the left field fence, making the score 12-5 E-Twins.

Elizabethton was not done however, as De La Osa doubled in the bottom half of the stanza. Romero and Jon Waltenbury followed up with back-to-back singles to drive in De La Osa. Alex Soto would ground into a force out, move to 2nd on a throwing error and to 3rd on a wild pitch before Lopez called for another pitching change, going with Manuel Alvarez on the hill. Alvarez would get Bigley to pop out before Soto went any further, so the score stood at 13-5.

Danny Rondon took over for Leavitt in the top of the 6th. The K-Mets would try an abbreviated rally in the top of the 7th with Rafael Fernandez doubling. One out later, he'd move to 3rd on Flores' fly out and come home on a Williams single. Welch would go down on strikes however, to end contest.

Bigley and Lanning were both 3-for-4, Bigley with 3 runs and 3 RBIs, and Lanning with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. De La Osa and Waltenbury were both 2-for-3, De La Osa with a walk, 3 runs and 3 RBIs and Waltenbury with a walk and a RBI. Romero was 2-for-4 with a run and 4 RBIs while Harrington was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a pair of runs. Severino (1-for-3) and Beresford (1-for-4) each added a single and a run, Severino with a walk as well.

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Saturday: Kingsport 9 at Elizabethton 4

W: Z. Rosenbaum (2-3, 5.32); L: S. Blevins (0-1, 10.45)
HR: KNG: K. Suire (2). ELI: J. Waltenbury (4).

Steve Blevins would allow 5 runs in the 8th inning, breaking open a 4-4 tie as the Kingsport Mets went on to defeat the Elizabethton Twins, 9-4.

Alex Curry made his first Appy League start and was greeted in the second inning with a line drive by Seth Williams. A throwing error by Curry allowed Williams to advance to 2nd. Stefan Welch would go down on strikes and Pedro Zapata took a single. Jean Luc Blaquiere struck out as well, but Michael Moras singled to score Williams. Moras would advance to second on a throwing error by Michael Harrington. A missed catch error charged against Jon Waltenbury allowed Justin Garber to reach and Zapata and Moras to score. Kyle Suire's line drive single plated Garber before Curry could get Imbewere Alvarez to ground out to bring the Twins up to bat.

The Twins would not start to feel muscular though until the bottom of the 4th when Waltenbury put his 4th blast of the year over the right field wall. Evan Bigley singled and Harrington reached on a fielding error by Suire. Danny Rams would go down on strikes before Angel Morales reached on a missed catch by pitcher Robert Carson. Bigley would score on the play. Nathan Hanson's fly ball single drove in Harrington and James Beresford sacrificed in Morales.

Zach Rosenbaum would plunk Harrington in the fifth with a pitch, leading to a bases loaded situation after Waltenbury had singled and Bigley walked. But Rams and Morales both went down on strikes to strand the runners.

The game was slated for 7 innings but stretched into eight as the tie remained unbroken. With one out on the board in the top of the 8th, Welch singled and Zapata doubled. Blaquiere would ground out and Blevins would intentionally walk Moras to get at Garber. That almost work, as Garber struck out but he did so on a wild pitch that plated Welch and allowed Garber to get to 1st. Suire would then go yard for a grand slam, his 2nd home run of the season.

Morales would single in the bottom half of the stanza, but on the whole, the Twins went down quietly.

Waltenbury as 2-for-4 with a run and a RBI, Morales and Hanson were both 1-for-4, Morales with a run, Hanson with a RBI and Bigley was 1-for-1 with three (3) base on balls and a run. Speaking three (3), this is the number of times Rams would strike out through four at bats.

Curry allowed 4 runs, only 1 earned on six hits. He'd strike out 2 over 4 innings for the no decision. The loss, coming on 5 hits and a pair of walks while fanning 4 over four, would be Blevins first of the year for the E-Twins.

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Sunday: Kingsport 11 at Elizabethton 9

W: P. Orta (2-3, 1.17); L: M. Hamburger (1-2, 4.50); SV: M. Powers (4)
HR: KNG: D. McNulty (5), K. Suire (3). ELI: J. Waltenbury (5), D. De La Osa (4), J. Lanning (3).

The Kingsport Mets would again score late to slip past the Elizabethton Twins in a slugfest at Joe O'Brien Stadium.

Danny Berlind would allow back to back singles to Kyle Suire and Charles Doyle, then advance the runners with a wild pitch. He'd get Wilmer Flores to pop out, then hit Seth Williams with a pitch, He'd then take Stefan Welch and Pedro Zapata down on strikes to get out of the jam, but it appears Mr. Berlind might be having some control issues. (Maybe someone needs to check that boy for Tight Shoulder, there seems to be a lot of it going around these days.)

Dominic De La Osa and Nick Romero both flew out in the bottom half of the first before Jon Waltenbury doubled. Evan Bigley would get plunked by a pitch and Michael Harrington doubled to drive in Waltenbury and Bigley. A throwing error by Suire saw Harrington advance to 3rd. Jeff Lanning then launched a ball over the left field wall to add two more for a 4-0 lead before Angel Morales struck out.

It would not stay that way though as Berlind continued to struggle on the mound. Douglas McNulty would strike out swinging and Jean Luc Blaquiere took a walk. Rafael Fernandez would go down on strikes before Suire put his 3rd home run of the year over the right field wall to give Kingsport two. Doyle then walked and Flores singled. A passed ball by Lanning advanced the runner and a Seth Williams single put two over the plate before Berlind could find another set of strikes for Welch.

James Beresford singled in the bottom of the inning as did De La Osa and Romero, giving the E-Twins another run.

Pedro Zapata walked in the top of the 3rd, then advanced to 3rd when Berlind over threw first on the pick off attempt. McNulty would ground out, but Blaquiere walked, sending Ray Smith on a walk out to the mound. Relieving Berlind of the ball, then called Kyle Carr from the bullpen. Fernandez would reach on a fielders choice that took Zapata out at the plate, saving a run.

The respite would not last long however as Flores singled with one out on the board. Williams went down on strikes but Welch and Zapata hit back-to-back singles to score Flores. Welch would end up at 3rd, so Zapata would steal 2nd to catch up. Seeing that the E-Twins defense was distracted, Welch then stole home. McNulty then put a fly ball over the left field fence for his 5th home run of the season, making the score 8-5.

Elizabethton would catch up in the bottom half of the fourth however as De La Osa and Waltenbury hit towering home runs, separated by a Romero single to tie up the game.

Thom Wright would replace Carr in the top of the fifth and issue a walk to Suire. A missed catch error by Wright allowed Doyle to reach and sent Suire to 3rd. Flores fly ball single plated Suire to put give Kingsport the lead again.

The Twins would not answer back until the bottom of the 8th when Harrington took a walk, then moved to 2nd, one out later, on Angel Morales single. Severino would fly out to put Harrington on third, and Beresford would bring him home with a line drive to left.

Mark Hamburger took over on the hill in the top of the ninth, walked Blaquiere, then advanced him to 3rd on a pair of wild pitches. Rafael Fernandez took a walk and Suire doubled to bring in Blaquire for the game winning run. Doyle would take a walk and another wild pitch by Hamburger put Fernandez over the plate for the insurance run.

Sadly, there would be no wild finish for the E-Twins, as Kingsport's Michael Powers sat them down, one-two-three.

Romero and Beresford were both 2-for-4, Romero with a walk, a run and a run scored, Beresford with a RBI. De La Osa and Waltenbury were both 2-for-5 with home runs, Waltenbury with 2 runs and 2 RBIs to De La Osa's one.

Harrington was 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a pair of runs and a pair of RBIs in the designate hitter role, while Lanning and Morales were both 1-for-4, Lanning with a run and 2 RBIs.

The two teams play one more Monday night, this time for the West Division lead as E-town is 22-16 with a .579% and Kingsport is 23-17 with a .575%. The Twins then rest on Tuesday.

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