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Another interesting baseball game
Kingsport, Tennessee
Thursday’s Appalachian League contest at Hunter Wright Stadium will go down as one of the true oddities in league history after Kingsport picked up a 5-2 win over Bluefield despite having only one hit. The Axmen (14-13) drew 11 walks, had three batters hit by pitches and didn’t get a hit until the bottom of the eighth inning, a bleeder by pinch-hitter Cole Swift that got through the hole between shortstop and third. The Axmen got on the board in the bottom of the first in large part because of Ridge Runners mistakes. Three of the first five Kingsport batters walked to load the bases with two outs. With Dominik Ramil at the plate, Ryan Miller scored on a wild pitch in the dirt for the game’s first run. The bottom of the fourth was much the same for Kingsport — capitalizing on Bluefield mistakes. With one out, Mayes White reached on an error and Kevin Fernandez was plunked. The runners moved up 90 feet on a double steal, and White came home on an Andrew Citron sac fly to left field. Fernandez scored on another wild pitch and Kingsport, still hitless, led 3-0 through four innings. Another run was through a balk with the bases loaded. Bluefield (12-12) got five hits but finished 2-for-6 with runners in scoring position. |
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The Sunday game was also interesting. The Kingsport manager just couldn't make a right decision. Took his starting pitcher out in the 4th when he had given up only one hit, next pitcher allowed 3 quick runs to tie the game. Tried a steal of home that was thwarted (in my opinion, if there had been a challenge he would have won it). Had a guy try to steal second, fly ball to center field, second out, but the runner just walked back to 1st and was caught for a double play (not manager's fault but still). Had a pinch hitter single to go back ahead but then get picked off 1st. Sunday games only go 7 innings so the game was tied at the end of 7. Appy League rules say, to prevent games going beyond one more inning, that a runner is placed on 1st base and the home team can elect to go on offense or defense. If the home team selects offense and scores they win, if the home team selects defense and the visiting team doesn't score they win. Of course, the Kingsport made the decision to go on defense since the visiting team only had four hits. He brought in a new pitcher who promptly walked a guy then the catcher overthrew second on a steal attempt. Runner on third, no out. Next batter walked. Next batter hit by a pitch. Bases loaded. Next batter hit a fly ball to center - game over. I felt bad for the manager, just couldn't made a right decision.
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