Cardinals Blow Late Lead, Royals Win Series 2-1

By Matt Davis | Johnson City Cardinals Broadcaster

July 16, 2018

BURLINGTON, NC - The Johnson City Cardinals were looking to win the series against Burlington after winning game two and tying the series. The Cardinals lost 6-5 on a walk off two-run homerun and lost the series 2-1.Kyle Leahy got the start for the Cardinals. He went 5.2 innings, giving

BURLINGTON, NC - The Johnson City Cardinals were looking to win the series against Burlington after winning game two and tying the series. The Cardinals lost 6-5 on a walk off two-run homerun and lost the series 2-1.
Kyle Leahy got the start for the Cardinals. He went 5.2 innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs and had five strikeouts.
The Cardinals got the scoring started in the top of the second. Kevin Woodall led off with a double. After a balk during Dariel Gomez's at-bat, Woodall moved to third. Gomez hit a sac fly that scored Woodall to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Donivan Williams followed up with a double and then Michael Perri hit an RBI double to score Williams and make it 2-0 Cardinals.
The Royals followed up with one in the bottom of the second. Then, in the top of the third, Johnson City scored one. Nolan Gorman led off with a double, he moved to third on a groundout from Brandon Riley. Then Carlos Soto hit a sac fly to left field that scored Gorman to make it 3-1.
The Royals got one back in the bottom of the fourth, to make it 3-2. However, Johnson City came back with two runs on a Carlos Soto two-RBI single to increase the lead 5-2 in the seventh. The Royals didn't quit as they put four runs in the bottom of the ninth including a walkoff two-run homerun to win the game and series.
The Cardinals used three pitchers after Kyle Leahy. Enrique Perez went 1.1 innings, giving up no runs or hits. He had one strikeout and earned his first hold of the season. Evan Sisk relieved Perez, and pitched one inning, while allowing only one hit. Sisk earned his second hold of the season. Parker Kelly, came on to close out the game. Kelly blew his first save of the season and took his first loss. He pitched 0.2 innings, allowing three hits and four earned runs.
The Cardinals return home to take on the Bluefield Blue Jays in a three game series Wednesday through Friday.
The full schedule for the season and information regarding tickets, and promotion days can be found at jccardinals.com or by calling the Cardinals Office at (423) 461- 4866.