Another Walk-Off Win Caps 2016 Season
KINGSPORT, Tenn.-Following a night where Jose Maria walked it off in the bottom of the tenth inning for a win, Kingsport won in walk-off fashion yet again in extras Thursday night to cap the 2016 Appalachian League season with a 9-8, 10-inning contest win over the Bristol Pirates.
With two men on and two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning trailing by a score of 8-7, Dionis Rodriguez hit a groundball to third base. The ball was fielded cleanly by Pirates (25-43) third baseman, Julio De La Cruz, but the throw to first base was well off the line.
Both of Kingsport's (27-41) base runners trotted around and scored on the walk-off throwing error as the K-Mets completed their first series-sweep of the season in their second extra inning walk-off win in as many days.
With the win, Kingsport concludes the 2016 season with an 8-2 record in its final 10 ballgames. The walk-off win Thursday night also finished off the club's season-ending nine-game home stand with a 7-2 record. The K-Mets improved to 7-2 over the Bristol Pirates in the season with the win, as well as jumping the Bucs in the standings to secure an out-right fourth-place finish in the Appalachian League West.
The night began with the Pirates jumping out first by scoring four runs in the top of the second inning-highlighted by a Victor Fernandez double that brought in two base runners.
The K-Mets answered back in the two innings that followed by scoring four runs of their own tie the contest at four runs apiece. In the bottom of the second inning, Raphael Ramirez drove in Jose Maria for the first run of the ball game for the K-Mets and in the third, Jose Miguel Medina and Maria both drove in runs off base hits.
Bristol immediately answered in the top of the fourth inning when Garrett Brown scored on a passed ball. A batter later, Raul Siri drove in a pair with a single to left field as the Pirates jumped back out in front by a score of 7-4.
Kingsport again inched its way back into the contest by scoring in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Reed Gamache doubled in Walter Raquin in the bottom of the sixth inning while Ramirez and Yeffry De Aza each brought in a run apiece in the seventh frame.
The score would remain tied at seven runs apiece until the top of the 10th inning when Placido Torres (2-2) yielded a run off an RBI groundout from Siri on a ball hit to De Aza at short stop to give up the lead for Kingsport.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Jeremy Wolf and Medina both reached base safely and later came around to score the tying and game-winning runs for Kingsport's walk-off win.
Torres picked up the win for the K-Mets to even his record on the season to 2-2. The Mets 2018 8th round selection out of Tusculum College tossed two innings of one-hit baseball, surrendering only one run in the process. Jordan Jess (2-2) fell victim in the loss as the Pirate yielded two runs off three hits in two innings of work on the mound.
Both of Jess's losses on the season have come from the hands of the Kingsport Mets.
The K-Mets' bats exploded in the season-finale as the squad tallied 9 runs off 18 hits in the final game of the season. Maria led the way with a four-hit night with two RBIs while Rasquin tallied three hits atop of the order for Kingsport. Ramirez drove in a season-high two runs in the win while Gamache and De Aza contributed an RBI apiece.
The Kingsport Mets finish the season on a high-note by completing their first series-sweep of the season over the Pirates at Hunter Wright Stadium. The off-season program now begins for the players as they enter the next phase in their profession careers.
Stay tuned into kmets.com for all off-season coverage of the Kingsport Mets.