Fine pitching! Productive outs! Two 1-0 games!
ELIZABETHTON 5, KINGSPORT 2 IN ELIZABETHTON
Batting stars: Jonatan Hinojosa was 2-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two. Dutch Deol was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once.
Pitching stars: Sam Gibbons struck out six in five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks. C. K. Irby struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit. Cameron Booser struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: Pedro Perez was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run. Luis Ortega was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Jean Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a walk.
The game: Kingsport scored on a pair of productive outs in the second to take a 2-0 lead. In the fourth, Max Murphy doubled and scored on a Trey Vavra single. A Deol double put men on second and third, and Hinojosa then circled the bases on a double-plus-error-plus-error, giving the Twins a 4-2 advantage. Tyler Kuresa added an insurance run in the sixth with a leadoff home run. The second inning was the only time the Mets had more than one man on base.
Of note: Jeremias Pineda was 1-for-4 with a double. Nick Gordon was 0-for-4. Murphy was 1-for-4 with a double and a run. Kuresa was 1-for-4 with a home run. Vavra was 1-for-3 with a walk, scoring once and driving in one. Jorge Fernandez was 0-for-3.
GCL TWINS 1, GCL ORIOLES 0 AT TWINS
Batting star: Frank Encarnacion was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.
Pitching stars: Brandon Easton pitched five innings, giving up one hit and two walks with four strikeouts. Miles Nordgren pitched two perfect innings. Reyson Zoquiel pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition star: Jonatan Isenia struck out five in five innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks.
The game: The lone run came in the fourth. With two out, Encarnacion doubled, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Rafael P. Valera. The lone Orioles hit came in the fifth when Ronarsy Ledesma hit a two-out double. The closest the Orioles came to scoring was the third, when a hit batsman, a pickoff error, and a throw to first following a missed third strike put a man on third with two out. A walk made it first and third, but a ground out ended the threat.
Of note: Dubal Baez was 1-for-4. Amaurys Minier was 0-for-3. Jarrard Poteete was 0-for-1 with two walks.
DSL TWINS 1, DSL WHITE SOX 0
Batting star: Luis Arraez was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once.
Pitching stars: Jose Martinez pitched seven innings, giving up one hit and no walks with six strikeouts. Randolph Perez pitched two innings, giving up one hit with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Nelson Acosta pitched four innings, allowing one run on two hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Luis Arteaga pitched four shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
The game: The run scored in the first, when Arraez led off with a double, took third on a bunt, and scored on a sacrifice fly. The White Sox best scoring chance came in the third, when Hanleth Otano got their first hit, a leadoff double. However, he was instantly erased when he tried to go to third on a ground ball to the shortstop. The only other White Sox hit was a single in the seventh.
Of note: Junior Amarante was 0-for-2 with a walk. Jermaine Palacios was 0-for-1 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, driving in one. Lewin Diaz was 0-for-3 with a walk. Jorge Parra was 0-for-3.