Hot bats rally M's to 9-6 victory over Cardinals

The Pulaski Mariners rallied from an early 4-0 deficit and defeated the Johnson City Cardinals Friday evening at Calfee Park, 9-6.

After 13 hits Wednesday evening in a 12-5 loss, and 17 last night in a 10-3 win, the Mariners entered play Friday with the best team batting average in the entire Appalachian League at .270.

They didn't slow down a bit Friday, pummeling the Cards' pitchers again to the tune of nine runs on 14 hits.

Johnson City jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings of play. Kenny Peoples-Walls snuck a homer over the fence in left for the Cardinals' first run in the second inning. They added two more in the second before Luis Perez hit a solo shot to center field in the third.

Having dealt with early deficits often this season, the Mariners did not panic.

Jeff Zimmerman lined an RBI single scoring Ian Miller for Pulaski's first run in the third. Toby DeMello then lofted a two-run shot to right in the fourth, pulling the Mariners within one run.

The Mariners plated one in the fifth on a Joe DeCarlo fielder's choice, scoring Miller again. Miller led off the inning with his third single, and swiped his second base of the game, putting him in a tie atop the Appy League in stolen bases with 11.

Johnson City regained the lead with two runs in the sixth off of M's right-hander Rafael Pineda. The former Texas A&M Aggie took a sharp line drive off of his right leg that scored Peoples-Walls from third for a 5-4 Cardinals lead. Pineda recovered to finish out the inning.

The Mariners battled back with two runs of their own in the home half of the sixth. DeMello launched his second home run of the game to left to cut it to one run, 6-5. Four batters later, Isaiah Yates grounded an RBI single off of Brett Wiley's glove into center to tie the game at six.

Pulaski broke the tie in the seventh with three more runs. DeCarlo led off with a double and scored on a Zach Shank RBI single to right center. Kristian Brito followed with an RBI double off the wall in right - his eighth double and 16th RBI - scoring Shank from first. Ray Michel completed the scoring with an RBI single to left.

Emilio Pagan closed out the Cardinals in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, picking up his fifth save in five opportunities.

Leoncio Munoz (2-0, 3.75 ERA) got the win in relief for Pulaski, throwing two scoreless innings. M's starter Jose Flores threw four innings, allowing six hits and four runs (all earned). He walked one and struck out four.

Brandon Lee took the loss for Johnson City. Lee allowed five runs on six hits in one-plus innings.

The Mariners moved to 15-11 and sit 1.5 games back in the Appy East. Johnson City fell to 14-13 overall.

Pulaski won the season-series with Johnson City, taking two of three in both three-game series with the Cards.

The Mariners will hit the road for a five-game road trip, beginning tomorrow in Burlington. They'll return home next Thursday for a brief one-game matchup with the Princeton Rays.

 

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