Mancini Fires His Best Outing of the Year, T's Still Come Up Short

ROME- For the third straight season, no team in the South Atlantic League has issued more walks than the Asheville Tourists pitching staff. The lack of strike-throwing bit Asheville in a big way on Thursday night against the Rome Braves. The Tourists took a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning and surrendered four runs without giving up a single hit. Asheville went on to lose 4-3.

The Tourists took advantage of a few early opportunities. John Garcia hit an RBI single in the first and Rome’s pitcher balked in a second run. Tim Borden II delivered an RBI single in the fifth to give Asheville a 3-0 lead. The Tourists finished the game with a total of three hits; all singles.

Joey Mancini was the Tourists star. Mancini pitched five shutout innings and needed only 70 pitches to do so. Mancini departed with the Tourists in front but the lead did not last long.

Miguel Ullola walked two batters in the sixth and threw a wild pitch. Even with the lack of control, Ullola escaped the sixth without allowing any damage thanks to a fortunate bounce on what would have been a second wild pitch.

The right-hander was not as lucky in the seventh. Ullola walked three more batters, hit a batter, threw another wild pitch, and saw his catcher make an ill-advised errant throw to third base that resulted in the tying and go-ahead runs to score. The Tourists also lead the league in wild pitches and errors.

Asheville did not threaten over the final two frames and dropped their sixth straight contest. The Tourists are 8-25 since August 1st and have a league-low .201 batting average during the 33-game stretch.