Yankees’ late comeback attempt falls short

BURLINGTON, Nc – The Pulaski Yankees scored three times in the ninth inning, but a late comeback attempt fell short in a 6-4 defeat to the Burlington Royals on Saturday. The Yankees finished their six game road trip with a 4-2 record.

Evan Alexander opened the scoring in the third inning by beating out and infield hit to score Max Burt with two outs. But a four run fourth inning gave the Royals a 4-1 lead. Freddy Fermin singled on a 2-1 pitch to right field to score Jose Marquez to even the score, and Jackson Lueck left the yard with a 3-run homer to give the Royals a 4-1 advantage.

Burlington’s advantaged stretched to 6-1 after Rafael Romero reached base on a run-scoring fielding error by Burt in the sixth, followed by a sacrifice fly by Colby Schultz in the eighth. But down by five entering the ninth inning, the Yankees showed resiliency by loading the bases with no outs and piecing quality at bats. Juan De Leon walked with the bases loaded to cut his team’s deficit to 6-2 and bring the tying run to the plate.

Next, with Jordan Scott batting, a wild pitch scored Nelson Gomez to make it a 6-3 game. Griffin Garabito tallied a sacrifice fly, but Pulaski came up short of the big hit, and fell 6-4. Pedro Barrios received his first loss of the season after working 5.1 innings allowing five runs, four earned on seven hits, two walks, two strikeouts and a homer allowed. Elvis Luciano qualified for his first win of the season for Burlington.

The Pulaski Yankees return home on Sunday for the start of a three-game set against the Danville Braves.