Augusta's Closer, Tona, Closes Out Tourists Again

ASHEVILLE- It seems like every time the Asheville Tourists and the Augusta GreenJackets square off the game comes down to the wire. Saturday night was no different. Asheville held an early one-run lead, then fell behind only to rally back and makes things interesting. Ultimately the GreenJackets held off the Tourists 6-4.
Augusta's closer, Jesus Tona, earned his third six-out save against Asheville this season. Tona entered the game with his team ahead 5-4 and closed it out just like he's done all season. Tona has pitched a total of nine shutout innings against the Tourists and has allowed a grand total of one hit. That hit came tonight by Coco Montes to lead off the eighth inning.

The GreenJackets plated a run in the top of the third inning to open the scoring but Asheville responded with two in the bottom half. LeeMarcus Boyd led off with a single and went first to third on a sacrifice bunt. Then Boyd raced home as soon as the GreenJackets turned their back - just like he did in Rome last week. Terrin Vavra gave the Tourists the lead on the next pitch with a solo Home Run to centerfield.
The score remained 2-1 Asheville until the top of the sixth. Augusta rallied for three runs and then added another in the seventh. Boyd's two-run Home Run in the bottom of the seventh brought the Tourists back to within one; however, being behind with Tona entering the game does not bode well.
Asheville's bullpen struggled in this one. The relievers combined to pitch four innings and surrendered five runs on seven hits. Alfredo Garcia navigated his way through five innings with some nifty help from his defense. When Garcia departed the Tourists led 2-1.
Now that the series is tied up at one game apiece, the two teams will determine a series winner on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is at 2:05pm.