BY JOSH FLOYD
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
BRISTOL, Va. — With three baseballs seemingly drifting out of DeVault Stadium’s short porch in right field Thursday, Johnson City’s Jairo Martinez was there on the dugout railing, studying the slicing flight of those three four-baggers.
And in the 10th inning, Martinez applied those lessons into one winning swing. The Johnson City designed hitter pushed a sac fly to the right-field warning track, driving home Nico Vasquez for the game-winner in a dramatic 4-3 Appalachian League victory.
“I just tried to drive the pitch that way – towards the wall,” said Martinez. “We worked so hard tonight to get this win.”
It was the second time that the Cardinals (2-1) pulled ahead of the hosts during the late frames. With Bristol (1-2) on the better end of a 2-1 pitcher’s duel through eight, Cards’ catcher Ivan Castro crushed a 2-0 offering from White Sox reliever Brett Graffy over the left-center field wall – giving the visitors their first lead of the contest.
Castro’s poke sent the entire Cardinal dugout – along with the bullpen crew – into sheer bedlam.
“Our guys just kept plugging along,” said Johnson City manager Joe Almaraz, whose team also won Tuesday’s season-opening clash over Bristol in extras. “Early in the game, we had runners in scoring position, but nobody really stepped up out there. It was a see-saw deal the whole game, and lucky for us at the end, we put some hits together.”
Bristol, which received solo shots from Justin Greene (3-for-4) and Jedon Matthews (3-for-4), tied the game in the bottom half on a gutsy call from manager Bobby Thigpen. After Matthews rocked a one-out triple into the left-center field gap, Shaydron Buckridge dropped a perfectly-executed suicide squeeze bunt to even the score.
“I was just trying to extend the game,” said Thigpen of his call. “And [Shaydron] did a good job there. He did what I asked him to do - he got the run home.”
But after the Sox eventually loaded the bases,
Johnson City reliever Matthew Frevert induced an inning-ending double play from Brandon Short.
NOTES: The two teams combined for six double plays. ... Osvaldo Morales had three hits for the Cards, while teammate Edgar Lara provided a solo homer in the sixth. ... Bristol starter Joucer Martinez went into the sixth, allowing one run and four hits while striking out three. ... Po-Yu Lin will take the hill for the Sox in tonight’s 7 p.m. contest against host Burlington.
Johnson City 000 001 002 1 - 4 10 2
Bristol 010 010 001 0 - 3 10 0
North, Bravo (6), Frevert (9), Mateo (10) and Castro. Martinez, Lucas (6), Graffy (9), Dawson (10) and Buckridge, Santos (10). W - Frevert (1-0). L - Graffy (0-1). S - Mateo (1). HR - Matthews (B), 2nd, none on; Greene (B), 5th, none on; Lara (JC), 6th, none on; Castro (JC), 9th, one on.
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