Frederick tops Kinston to win Carolina League championship

The Single-A Frederick Keys beat Kinston 11-3 tonight at Grainger Stadium to win the Carolina League championship. The Keys lost Game 1 of the best-of-five series, but then won the next three games to claim the fourth championship in their 23-year history. Frederick also won titles in 1990, 2005 and 2007. The 2007 club was the last Orioles minor league team to win a championship until Friday night. Frederick scored all 11 runs in the top of the third to win going away. Manny Machado hit a three-run homer in that frame, drove in four runs on the game and finished the playoffs batting .344. Machado finished with a homer and 7 RBIs in the series and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Mills Cup finals.. Bobby Stevens and Jonathan Schoop added two RBIs each. Winning pitcher Ryohei Tanaka gave up six hits and three runs (two earned) over five innings. Frederick had been struggling to score runs. The Keys plated just 18 runs in the first seven games of the postseason, then scored 18 the last two games. Game 2 of this series started over three hours late Wednesday in Frederick and the start of tonight's game was delayed one 1 hour, 11 minutes by rain. Then, in the middle of the fourth, the teams waiting out another hour-long rain delay. Frederick finished the regular season with the best record in the league and the best mark in team history, going 80-59. The Keys then beat Potomac, three games to two, in the first round before the topping Kinston in the Mills Cup finals. Click here to listen to Keys broadcaster Adam Pohl call the game's final out.