Butler Flirts with No-Hitter in 3-0 Tourists Win

Asheville NC--The story on Thursday night at McCormick Field was Eddie Butler. Asheville's right-handed starting pitcher tossed eight innings of one hit, no run baseball; en route to his second win of the season. The Tourists won their sixth consecutive game behind Butler's outing and swept the Lexington Legends three games to none.

The Tourists had to deal with Christian Binford for most of the night, and the Legends starter was pretty effective. Asheville did manage to break a scoreless tie with a run in the third. Julian Yan doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on Matt Argyropolous' RBI single to left.

Asheville then tacked on another in the fourth when Tom Murphy rolled the dice on the base-paths. Murphy was at second with two outs and decided to attempt a theft of third base. His break was so good that he nearly was at third by the time the pitch reached home plate. 

As fate would have it, the pitch went to the backstop and Murphy raced towards the plate. A head first slide just did beat the tag attempt by Legends catcher Jin-Ho Shin and Murphy jumped up in excitement after padding Asheville's advantage to 2-0.

The home team did add an unearned run in the eighth, but Raul Fernandez did not need any help. The Tourists closer worked an uneventful ninth for his seventh save of the season. Lexington picked up their lone hit off Butler on a Michael Antonio ground ball single to lead off the seventh inning.

The Tourists continue their homestand on Friday night as the Lakewood BlueClaws come to town. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm.