Knotting it up…Twins pull even with Cards with a 4-2 win over Pulaski
Published 6:00 am Wednesday, August 14, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Twins Matt Wallner (48) ties the game at one all in the bottom of the third on a liner to the wall that scores Ruben Santana (5) from second base.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Twins Ruben Santana (5) drew a walk to keep the third inning alive, but he also drew a pick off attempt by Pulaski starting pitcher Jhonatan Munoz (43). Santana is safe at the bag just getting back, under the tag Yankee first baseman Jake Farrell.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR STAFF
For the last few weeks, the Elizabethton Twins have been nipping on the heels of the Johnson City Cardinals like a pack of dogs chasing a deer through the woods.
On Monday evening, the Twins finally were able to pull into a tie with the Cardinals thanks in part to a three-game losing streak by the Cardinals and by virtue of the Twins 4-2 win over the Pulaski Yankees at Northeast Community Credit Union Ball Park.
The Yankees drew first blood in the top of the first inning as Robert Chirinos opened the game with a single and scored on a fielder’s choice ground out by Ryder Green. Elizabethton was held in check through three innings before erupting for four runs in the bottom of the third inning with two outs.
Ruben Santana drew a walk and Charles Mack’s single put runners at first and second.
A Matt Wallner double, his 17th of the season, to right field plated Santana and Mack advanced to third base.
Parker Phillips cleared the bags of Twins as he stroked his fifth homer of the season to left-center and gave Elizabethton the 4-1 lead.
Pulaski tried to put together a rally in the top of the eighth inning as the Yankees picked up a run when Jake Ferrell singled and worked his way to third base before scoring on a Frandy Torres wild pitch on a strikeout of Antonio Cabello.
Torres settled to retire Ryder Green on a strikeout and enticed Chad Bell into a line out to second baseman Santana for the third out.
From that point, the Twins took care of business to take the critical win.
Andriu Marin evened his record at 2-2 on the season pitching six innings of four-hit baseball allowing only one run and hitting double digits in strikeouts with 11.
Owen Griffith followed with one inning of no-hit ball before giving way to Torres who recorded his second save of the season pitching the final two innings for Elizabethton.
Torres allowed the one run on two hits and fanned four Yankee batters in his time on the hill.
Elizabethton collected eight hits in the contest led by Mack and Max Smith with two base knocks apiece.
The Twins were 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position while leaving three men on base.
Pulaski didn’t help their cause as the Yankees were a dismal 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position as the Twins did their job in getting the outs when needed to secure the win.
A paid attendance crowd of 589 took in the contest as the Twins have one game left at home before hitting the road for an eight-game road trip after taking Wednesday off and then return home for the final six games of the regular season.
The Twins (27-25) have to keep their eyes on the rear-view mirror as the Bristol Pirates (26-26) have won three straight games and are only one game behind Elizabethton and Johnson City (27-25).
