K-Mets pick up first win of the season

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (June 21, 2014) - Before fireworks lit the Saturday night sky over Hunter Wright Stadium, the Kingsport Mets' lineup orchestrated their own fireworks display. The K-Mets rapped out 13 hits to defeat the Danville Braves 9-5, preventing a three-game sweep by Danville and posting their first win of the 2014 Appalachian League season.

Brandon Brosher dealt the most damage for Kingsport. The Mets catcher homered twice. His first was crushed to straightaway center just to the left of the "blue monster" in dead center. Brosher homered again in the fifth, another two-run shot that easily cleared the wall in left field. Brosher finished with a 3-for-4 line and four RBIs.

Eudor Garcia scored on both home runs, part of a two-hit night that saw him reach base safely in each of his four plate appearances. Garcia scored three total runs.

Kingsport scored six runs in its first two games combined and was hitting .164, but the offense exploded in the middle innings. The K-Mets roughed up Danville starter Daniel Cordero for five runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth, with Brosher's first home run the highlight.

Oswald Caraballo, who was making his K-Mets debut, singled twice and drove in a run.

Yoan Gonzalez (1-0), a starting pitcher for Kingsport's 2013 West Division championship squad, went seven innings to record the victory. Gonzalez was shaky early, allowing two runs on four hits through his first three frames, but settled down to hold Danville scoreless on one hit in his final four innings of work.

Kingsport opens a three-game series with the Bluefield Orioles on Sunday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

K-METRICS: Location was no problem for Gonzalez, especially early; he threw his first 11 pitches for strikes and retired the side on six pitches in the first inning.

NOTES: Garcia, a fourth-round pick of the Mets in the draft earlier this month, tallied his first professional hit on a grounder up the middle to lead off the second inning. … There was a scary moment in the top of the eighth, when K-Met outfielders Ivan Wilson and Caraballo nearly collided in the outfield as Caraballo hauled in the first out. … Danville outfielder Sean Godfrey went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Alejandro Piloto tripled in the eighth inning, and scored on the same play after a throwing error by the cutoff man. … Attendance was 1,002. … This was the first K-Met game of the 2014 season played in less than three hours.