Clearwater Erases 7-Run Deficit in 9-8 Win

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Through three and a half innings on Thursday, the Clearwater Threshers found themselves down 7-0.

St. Lucie had plated five runs against David Whitehead in the second, and tacked on two more to blow it open in the third. The Threshers had collected just one hit through the front three frames.

With a loss, the Threshers would be eliminated from the first-half FSL North race.

Down 7-0, the game was far from over.

Clearwater rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to erase that early deficit, and Aaron Brown delivered the game-winning hit for the second consecutive day as the Threshers walked off with a 9-8 victory in the series finale against St. Lucie.

With the game deadlocked at eight, Jesen Therrien (2-0) had stranded the potential go-ahead run at second base to send it to the bottom of the ninth.

Dylan Cozens opened the frame with a single through the right side, and stole second to put the winning run in scoring position. Andrew Knapp then worked a walk.

With Brown at the plate, a wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position and forced the Mets to draw the infield in.

On an 0-2 pitch, Brown made them pay by sending a chopper over the head of the second baseman Phillip Evans to complete the improbable comeback, and lift Clearwater to the 9-8 walk-off win.

It was the second game-winning hit in as many days for Brown, who sent the Threshers home a winner with a solo shot in the 11th inning on Wednesday.

Brown's single back in the fourth inning helped get the first rally going for Clearwater (34-33).

Trailing by seven, Knapp was hit by a pitch and Brown went the opposite way on the eighth pitch of his at-bat to kick off the frame. Harold Martinez got the Threshers on the board by ripping a two-run double to left.

An out and a single later, Drew Stankiewicz pulled a base hit through the right side to bring home Martinez and cut the deficit to 7-3. After Carlos Tocci battled his way to a ten-pitch walk, Andrew Pullin stepped to the plate representing the tying run.

Pullin jumped all over a 1-0 pitch from reliever Rob Whalen (4-4), blasting a grand slam to the berm in right to erase the deficit and tie the game at seven.

It was Pullin's team-leading fifth home run, and upped his RBI total to a Threshers-best 35. The grand slam was the first for Clearwater in 2015.

Clearwater went ahead in the fifth on a Stankiewicz sac fly, but the Mets again pulled even in the seventh when Dominic Smith came through with a two-out, game-tying single.

The Threshers will be off for three days due to the All-Star Break, as Knapp, Angelo Mora, Colin Kleven, and Ulises Joaquin will travel to St. Lucie to represent Clearwater in the All-Star Game on Saturday.

Clearwater will have a chance at the division title next week when they welcome in the Daytona Tortugas for a three-game set, starting Monday at 7 p.m. With a sweep of Daytona, Clearwater would clinch its first playoff berth since 2007.

The call can be heard live on thresersbaseball.com beginning at 6:45 p.m.