Series Ends in 12-5 Sweep From Royals
KINGSPORT, Tenn.-The Appalachian League leading Burlington Royals continued to show why they lead the nine other teams in the developmental league with a good offensive showing of 11 runs off 16 hits and a couple of web gems defensively in the field to sweep the Kingsport Mets with a 12-5 Game 3 win at Hunter Wright Stadium on Saturday night.
The loss marks the fifth-consecutive losing battle for the K-Mets (15-28) who now find themselves a league-worst 13 games under .500. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Burlington's (26-16) win Saturday night was its third in-a-row and put the Royals 10 games over the line.
Jake Simon (1-4) did not have his best stuff on the day as the southpaw surrendered six earned runs in what was his eighth start of the season. The six earned runs was a season-high for the 2015 11th round selection who stayed in the contest to complete 6.2 innings. The left-handed pitcher walked three batters while only recording two strikeouts in the loss.
Burlington got to Simon quick and early as the visitors scored six unanswered runs to begin the contest in the first four innings of play.
With two outs in the top of the first inning, Emmanuel Rivera doubled to keep the inning alive. Simon then walked Boo Vasquez a batter later to put two men on base for Gabriel Cancel. On a 2-0 offering from Simon, Cancel drove in Rivera from second base with a base hit to center field.
In the second inning, the Royals sent eight men to the plate to score four runs off four hits.
Chrishian Vasquez and Nathan Esposito each singled to lead off the inning and then advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Straub with two-strikes in the ninth slot in Burlington skipper Scott Thorman's lineup.
Leadoff man Nicky Lopez drove in Vasquez a batter later for the first run in the frame and Rivera tacked on two more a couple of batters later with a two-run single to right field.
Kort Peterson, who reached base on a walk in-between Lopez and Rivera, came around to score later in the inning following an RBI groundout from Boo Vasquez. The score was 5-0 Royals midway through the second inning.
Another run was driven in by Boo Vasquez two innings later when a sacrifice fly brought in Lopez who walked to lead off the top of the fourth inning.
Trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Kingsport finally brought a run across home plate when a fielder's choice off the bat of Jeremy Wolf plated Reed Gamache from third base after leading off the frame with a double.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Royals would add another run to their lead with an RBI triple from Rivera. The three-base hit scored Lopez from second base after the leadoff man tallied a one-out double two batters prior.
The K-Mets cut into the lead in the bottom half of the frame, however, as William Barring scored on a wild pitch from reliever Justin Camp. Later in the inning, Anthony Dimino slashed a single to center field to score Jose Miguel Medina who reached on a fielder's choice earlier in the inning.
With the score being a four-run lead at 7-3 in Burlington's favor, the seventh inning would be a quick and scoreless one before the Royals added three more runs in the eighth inning.
Straub and Lopez led off the frame with consecutive singles and both came around to score on a double from Peterson three batters into the inning. Three batters and two outs later in the frame, Peterson came into to score on passed ball from Dimino behind the plate.
Burlington scored two more runs in the contest following a two-run home run from Christhian Vasquez in the top of the ninth inning and the 12 runs would be all for the offensive-happy Royals club in the series.
Kingsport managed to scrape across two more runs in the contest during the eighth and ninth innings to bring the final score to 12-5 in Game 3.
In the eighth inning, Yeffrey De Aza tripled over the glove of a leaping McCray in deep left-center field to bring in Medina who doubled earlier in the frame and in the ninth, Franklin Correa singled in Barring for the club's fifth and final run of the contest.
Simon took the loss for Kingsport on the day after giving way to the bullpen with two outs in the top of the seventh inning. Luis Correno and Maxwell Kuhns tossed the final 2.1 innings of the ballgame by going a combined five hits and four earned runs between the two.
Burlington starter Garrett Davila (4-0) continued his impressive season with a win in Game 3 of the series. The left-handed hurler pitched 5.1 innings of four-hit baseball-giving up three runs and tallying three strikeouts in the outing. Camp and Anthony Kidston also threw in the contest for the Royals by pitching the final 3.2 innings of the game.
Christhian Vasquez, Rivera and Lopez each finished the contest going 3-for-5 at the plate. The trio drove in a combined six runs while also adding three doubles and seven runs scored.
Kingsport was led by Dimino and De Aza at the bottom of the order as the two each recorded a multi-hit day. The two also combined with Wolf and Correa for the squad's four RBIs on the night.
The K-Mets will look to get on track away from the not so friendly confines of Hunter Wright Stadium by beginning a six-game road trip in Bristol Sunday evening at 6:00 p.m. Coverage on the Kingsport Mets Baseball Network will begin 15 minutes prior to first pitch as the contest can be found at kmets.com or on the TuneIn application.