Seventh-Inning Woes Doom K-Mets in Loss

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- A five-run seventh inning for the Bluefield propelled the Blue Jays to a 6-4 win over Kingsport Wednesday night at Hunter Wright Stadium as the Mets have dropped consecutive games after winning eight of nine before the halt.
The Mets (27-31) fell apart in the seventh inning when reliver Pedro Perez allowed five runs to score while recording only one out in the frame. Bluefield (38-20) allowed Kingsport to get within striking distance again but were able to hold off a pesky home team despite being out-hit in the victory.
Bluefield struck first with a run in the third inning when McGregory Contreras scored from this base on a wild pitch. Prior to reaching third, the left fielder broke up a strand of six-batters retired to begin the game from K-Mets starter Joe Cavallaro with a leadoff double. Midway through three innings, the Blue Jays led 1-0.
Kingsport responded in the bottom of the fourth when Juan Uriarte singled to the opposite field right to bring in Hansel Moreno form second base with one gone. The fourth-inning RBI from Kingsport's designated-hitter marked the third game in-a-row where Uriarte has driven in Moreno for a K-Mets run.
After four inning s of play, the game was tied at 1-1.  
After a couple of scoreless innings followed the tie ballgame in the fourth, Bluefield gained the lead right back in the seventh inning by scoring five runs off only two hits in the frame. In the inning frame that lasted 28 minutes and saw the Blue Jays bat around to send 10 batters to the plate, Bluefield exited the inning leading by a 6-1 tally.
Jesus Navarro singled in a pair of runs to get things going while Kevin Smith followed with an RBI single two batters later. Back-to-back bases-loaded walks form Yorman Rodriguez and Ryan Noda brought in two more runs in the inning. Pedro Perez (3-1) exited the contest for Kingsport after retiring only one batter in the frame as his final line read 1/3 of an inning, one hit, five runs, one strikeout and three walks in his first loss of the season.
The K-Mets chipped away in the following two innings thanks to an RBI double from Victor Moscote and a two-run single from Anthony Dirocie, but the initial four-run deficit was just too much to overcome as the Blue Jays took Game 1, 6-4.
Perez took the loss after a disastrous outing in the seventh while Ryan Selmer and Mac Lozer combined to finished the final 2 2/3 innings of work on the hill. Cavallaro's solid start goes for not as the starter did not register a decision in the outing following six innings of one-run baseball while surrendering only two hits with five strikeouts.
Picking up the win in relief for Bluefield was Jordan Barrett (2-2) as the southpaw pitched 3 1/3 innings of three-run baseball with five strikeouts and two walks. Ty Tice (S, 8), the Appalachian League-leader in saves, came on two pick up the final two outs of the inning with the tying run on base.
The Blue Jays scored six runs off only four hits while committing two errors defensively. No player recorded a multi-hit day but Navarro drove in two runs with the seventh-inning single while three others recorded an RBI in the win.
Kingsport tallied four runs off nine hits with three errors defensively while two of the runs came off the bat of Dirocie's two-run single in the eighth inning. Moscote drove in a run in the seventh while Uriarte brought in the first run of the game for the Mets in the bottom of the fourth with a single to left.
Game 2 of the series is set to begin Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. from Hunter Wright Stadium. The promotion of the night will be Dollar Night at the ballpark as fans can purchase hot dogs, soda and beer all for only $1. Coverage of the game will begin at 6:15 p.m. with the Braeden's Barbeque Pregame Show on the Kingsport Mets Baseball Network.