Yankees fall to Braves in 11 Innings

DANVILLE, Va. - The Pulaski Yankees came from behind in the eighth to force extra innings, but the Danville Braves persevered and grabbed 6-5 win over the Yankees at Legion Field on Wednesday Night. The loss is Pulaski's first of the season, evening their record to 1-1 in the opening series.

Pulaski opened the game with a two-run first inning to grab a 2-0 lead on the road. Everson Pereira singled to left field to score Robert Javier, who reached on a lead off single. With the single, Javier reached base safely for the fifth time in his first six plate appearances of the season. Pereira later scored on a RBI ground out by Nelson Gomez.
The Braves answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to draw even. Andrew Mortiz scored on a wild pitch assessed to Yankees starting pitcher Wellington Caceres. Four batters later, Brett Langhorne tripled to left field to tie the game for Danville.
Danville gained their first lead of the regular season with two more runs in the sixth inning. Greyson Jenista scored his second run of the game, capitalizing on his team's second triple of the game. Henry Quintero laced a drive down the left field line to score the go-ahead run. Marcos Almonte singled home Quintero in the next at bat to make the game 4-2.
Pulaski rallied in the eighth inning to knot the game at 4-4 after a run scoring balk scored Carlos Tatis, followed by a RBI single with two outs in the inning by Evan Alexander to push across Nelson Gomez.
Extra innings were required for the first time this season, and a new extra innings rule across Minor League Baseball made its debut in the Appalachian League. As a new pace of play initiative, each team batting in extra innings will start the half inning with a runner on second base. The runner on base is determined by who made the final out in the previous inning for the team batting.
In the 10th inning, both teams traded a run and cashed in on the initial runner in scoring position. Carlos Narvaez doubled to score Daniel Barrios, and the Braves countered with a RBI single by Mortiz. Langhorne was the hero for Danville by launching the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th inning to score Quintero, giving his club a 6-5 win over Pulaski.
Danville used two position players, Luis Mejia and Carlos Baerga to pitch in the final three frames with the game on the line. Both players combined for only one run on two hits in three innings of work. Baerga picked up his first pitching win of the season.
The teams will wrap up the season's opening series with the rubber match in Danville at 7pm Thursday night before the Yankees return home to Motor Mile Field at Calfee Park for the 2018 Home Opener presented by the Travis Team. Tickets are available at pulaskiyankees.net and by calling (540) 980-1070.