Appalachian League Championship Series: Day Three

ELIZABETHTON 10, BURLINGTON 6 IN ELIZABETHTON (12 INNINGS)

In the third extra-inning game of the three-game series, D. J. Hicks hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the twelfth to give the Twins the victory and the Appalachian League championship.

Elizabethton opened the scoring in the first inning.  Niko Goodrum hit a one-out double and Max Kepler hit an RBI single to give the Twins the early lead.

The lead held up until the fourth, when the Twins essentially handed the Royals four runs.  Patrick Leonard hit a one-out single followed by a passed ball.  The next batter struck out and it looked like all might be well, but a walk, an error, another passed ball, two more walks, a wild pitch, and another error gave Burlington a 4-1 lead.  They stretched the lead to 6-1 in the sixth on homers by Bubba Starling and Mark Threlkeld.

In the mean time, the Twins were doing very little on offense.  They did not get a runner past second base until the eighth, when an error moved runners to second and third with one out, but a short fly ball and a strikeout ended the threat.  The score remained 6-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, and it appeared that the championship trophy was headed to Burlington.

In the bottom of the ninth, however, things changed.  John Walter entered the game for the Royals and promptly walked Jhonatan Arias and Romy Jimenez.  Walter appeared to steady himself, retiring the next two batters, but a walk to Kepler loaded the bases.  Hicks was then hit by a pitch, scoring one and bringing the tying run to the plate.  A wild pitch brought in one more, and Adam Walker delivered a three-run homer to tie the game.

Each team put runners on first and second in the tenth but did not score.  Burlington had runners on second and third with two out in the twelfth, but could not score.  In the bottom of the inning, a one-out walk to Jimenez and a two-out walk to Goodrum put runners on first and second.  A wild pitch moved them to second and third.  Kepler was intentionally walked to load the bases.  D. J. Hicks then touched off the celebration with a walk-off grand slam.

Starter Jose Berrios struck out seven and walked four in four innings.  He was charged with four unearned runs on three hits.  Joshua Burris struck out three in two shutout innings.  Ricardo Arevalo worked 2.1 scoreless innings.  The win went to Brett Lee, who retired both batters he faced.

Our congratulations go to the entire Elizabethton organization.  It feels very good to write that THE TWINS ARE CHAMPIONS!