Yankees hammer Mets, maintain 3 1/2 game lead in East
Kingsport, TN – The Pulaski Yankees concluded their six game road trip Sunday afternoon with an 11-5 win over the Kingsport Mets to give them the series win before returning to Pulaski.
The Yanks got the scoring starting today in the third inning after each team was held at bay during the first two innings. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Kingsport made a pitching change. Ryder Green drew a walk before Chad Bell hit a single to right center field. With two aboard, Yankees second baseman Roberto Chirinos blasted his third home run of the season to put the Yankees up 3-0.
With the lead in hand Yankees starter Nelvin Correa went back to work. The first three innings couldn’t have gone better for Correa who was making his third start of the season. He didn’t allow a single Met player to reach base through the first three innings. With two outs in the fourth, Correa gave up a solo home run to Brett Baty as the Mets got their first run. Neither team was able to produce any runs in the fifth inning and the Yankees were retired in order in the sixth inning as well before the Mets went to work.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mets tacked on three more runs on four hits as they took a 4-3 lead. In a reversal from last night’s game, the Yankees didn’t let Kingsport get comfortable with the lead as they did some damage of their own in the top of the seventh. The Yankees got the first two batters in the inning on base safely before a ground ball by Antonio Cabello moved Jose Martinez to third and Anthony Volpe was out at second. With runners on the corners and just one out Kingsport once again went to their bullpen and it came back to burn them. Green went down on strikes but the next two batters walked, which pushed the tying run across the plate and left the bases loaded. Saul Torres singled to score two runs and another single from Madison Santos gave the Yankees a 7-4.
With Correa’s day over, the Yankees called on Hayden Wesneski out of the bullpen. He got the lead off batter to strikeout swinging but then gave up three straight singles as the Mets added another run to bring the score to 7-5. Wesneski got the last two outs and left two Mets stranded.
Pulaski added another for runs in the top of the eighth as the pulled away from Kingsport for good. Jose Martinez who was making just his second start in Pulaski after getting called up from the Gulf Coast League hit his first home run in a Pulaski uniform on the first pitch of inning. Volpe drew a walk and stole second before coming around to score on a wild pitch. Green drew another walk and Chad Bell hit his sixth home run of the season and second of the series to push the Yankees lead to 11-5.
The Mets couldn’t cut the lead any closer as they only managed one hit over their final two at bats off Wesneski and the Jackson Bertsch who came in to face the Mets in the ninth and retired them in order.
With the win the Yankees improved to 24-14 and held steady with the +3.5 game lead in first place.
The Yankees will have an off day tomorrow before beginning a three game home series against the Danville Braves on Tuesday night.
The Yankees will be celebrating HOPE Week, a New York Yankees initiative that aims to give back to those in the community. This will be the eighth year that all New York Yankees domestic affiliates will be hosting their own HOPE Week.
On Tuesday night, the Pulaski Yankees will be honoring those in the New River Valley who work or volunteer for non-profits by offering them $2 general admission tickets. It’ll also be Twos-days at the ballpark, which includes special $2 deals on certain concession items and buy one general admission ticket, get the second one for just $2.