Santana Strikes in Extras; Tourists Win 7-5 in 12 Innings

GREENVILLE- The Asheville Tourists entered new territory on Wednesday night; the 12th inning. It was the tenth extra-inning game of the season for Asheville, but the first that carried into the 12th. The Tourists used a two-run double from Luis Santana in the top of the 12th and held on in the bottom half to beat the Greenville Drive 7-5.

Runs were hard to come by over the first eight innings. Asheville’s starting pitcher, Ray Gaither, was electric in the best game of his career. Gaither went 5.2 innings, did not allow a run, and became the first Tourists pitcher in 2022 to record 11 strikeouts in a single game. Gaither departed with Asheville on top of Greenville 1-0.

The Tourists first run, the only run scored by either team in innings 1-8, came on a two-out RBI single by Michael Sandle in the top of the third. Heitor Tokar took over for Gaither and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings to carry the game to the top of the ninth. Asheville recorded a pair of crucial insurance runs in the ninth inning on RBIs from Luis Guerrero and Justin Williams.

The Drive loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. After an RBI fielder’s choice plated a run, Alex Erro delivered a two-out, two-run single to tie the game and force extras.

Santana came through for Asheville in the tenth with a two-run double but the Drive plated two runs in the bottom half. Neither team scored in the 11th inning. The Drive decided to issue a pair of intentional walks in the 12th to load the bases for Santana and the Tourists second-baseman delivered another two-run double.

Kasey Ford and Jacob DeLabio worked the final three innings with Ford earning the win and DeLabio the save. The Tourists are on their first four-game road win streak of the season and the team has won 14 of their last 18 games overall.

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