A long night for the E-Twins Burlington blanks Twins 5-0 as bats go silent
Published 6:00 am Monday, July 15, 2019
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton Twins third baseman Anthony Prato squeezes his glove closed around a pop fly out in the infield.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders E-Twins relief pitcher Steven Cruz worked three solid innings of relief allowing no hits and striking out six Burlington Royal batters.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Steven Cruz of Elizabethton sets to deliver a pitch. Cruz worked three innings of shutout baseball allowing no hits and striking out six Burlington Royals.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Spencer Steer pulls into third base with a triple which was only one of four hits the E-Twins could manage in the contest.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders E-Twins third baseman Anthony Prato gets ready to apply the tag to a Burlington baserunner. Prato's tag was on time in a bang-bang play at the bag.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders E-Twins right fielder Matt Wallner takes a cut on a pitch during Thursday's game against Burlington.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton reliever Erik Cha sets to deliver a pitch toward home plate. Cha gave up three runs on five hits in two innings of work Thursday evening.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
Burlington showed why they are tops in the Appalachian League in pitching on Thursday night at Northeast Community Credit Union ballpark with a 5-0 whitewashing of the Elizabethton Twins (12-10).
Royals righthander Noah Murdoch carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning walking one and striking out six.
He did not come out for the fifth frame so he was ineligible for the decision.
Twins starter Ben Gross, meanwhile, came in with a 2-0 record but he struggled in the first frame surrendering a pair of runs.
Overall, Gross pitched four innings giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits while striking out six and he did not issue a walk.
In the top of the first inning, Royals leadoff hitter Jay Charleston reached on a Twins infield error and stole second.
Jack Gethings then hit an RBI single to left to plate Charleston and advanced to second base on an error by Trevor Jensen.
Jake Means drove in the second run with a base knock to left to stake Burlington to a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, lefty reliever Erik Cha came on in relief of Gross and he lit a fire under the Royals as Charleston doubled to open the stanza and came around to score on a single from Vinnie Pasquantino for a 3-0 Royals advantage. Means followed with an RBI double to plate Michael Massey who walked and Burlington now led 4-0.
The Royals were not yet through as David Hollie collected an RBI hit for a 5-0 Burlington lead.
Cha went two full innings and gave up three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out three for his night’s work.
The Twins managed just four hits against Royals pitching who struck out 12 and issued only one walk.
For the Royals (10-12) lefty Drew Parrish (1-0) took the win with three innings of shutout relief.
Parrish gave up three hits but did not issue a walk and struck out five.
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Burlington 5-0
Burlington 200 030 000 – 5 10 0
E-Twins 000 000 000 – 0 4 4
W – Parrish (1-0) L – Gross (2-1)
