Johnson City put together an eighth-inning comeback attempt but ultimately fell short, 8-5, on the road at Pulaski on Tuesday night.

The Doughboys (12-22-1) trailed 8-1 in the eighth before plating four runs on two walks, a hit-by-pitch, an error and a sacrifice fly. The furious rally made it an 8-5 game going into the ninth with the top of Johnson City’s order due up. Yet, after Chyran Cruse found his way on via a hit-by-pitch, Blake Burzell retired three in a row for Pulaski to end the game.

With the win, Pulaski (24-14) maintains their two-game lead in the East Division over Princeton. With the loss, Johnson City was unable to complete what would have been their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Cruse, Alan Espinal and Ricky Jimenez all picked up an RBI for the Doughboys, while Alex Reyna drove in two.

Seth Willis started for Johnson City on the mound and delivered three scoreless innings to start before Pulaski tagged him for two in the fourth inning. Willis finished his outing scattering just three hits with three strikeouts.

With the game at 3-1 in favor of Pulaski in the fifth inning, the contest turned on its head when River Turtles first baseman Garrett Rice blasted a grand slam to left-center field with two outs for his sixth home run of the year. Though Rice hit it off of Will Westbrock, three of the four runs were charged to Marques Johnson, who struggled in his Doughboys debut before being replaced by Westbrock.

In all, Johnson City walked ten batters, tied for their third-most this season and the most since they walked ten in a 17-3 loss to Princeton on July 8.

Johnson City will look for a series split when they return to Calfee Park to face Pulaski in Game 2 of the series Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Fans can access live radio coverage of every Doughboys game this summer by visiting: https://www.mlb.com/appalachian-league/johnson-city/fans/audio-listen-live