Late Comeback Falls Short in 3-2 Loss

PORT CHARLOTTE, FL - After a 55 minute delay on the road at Charlotte Sports Park, the Bradenton Marauders and Charlotte Stone Crabs cruised through Tuesday night's nine inning contest in two hours and twelve minutes in a 3-2 victory for the home side. 

   LHP Domingo Robles worked through the first five innings of the action without allowing a hit, but struggled in his sixth and final inning in his second start of the year. After the no-hitter was broken up by a pair of Stone Crab singles to kick the frame off, SS Taylor Walls knocked a three run homer to left field, just out of the reach of Marauders left fielder Chris Sharpe on a drive that amounted for the only offense of the night for Charlotte. Robles was removed in favor of RHP Blake Cederlind in the seventh, who needed but 12 pitches (8 strikes) to work through the seventh, and RHP Ryan Valdes tossed a scoreless home half of the eighth inning that included a pair of strikeouts.

   Bradenton's first offensive strike came off the bat of SS Oneil Cruz, who clubbed his first home run of the season on a towering drive to the opposite field, clearing the wall in left-center in the deepest part of the park. After OF Travis Swaggerty and Chris Sharpe worked back-to-back walks to start the comeback in the ninth, Swaggerty was brought in on a Cruz RBI groundout before Sharpe was stranded on third base representing the tying run in what was the Marauders first road loss through the first six games of the 2019 season.    
  
   Bradenton welcomes Charlotte to LECOM Park on Wednesday morning for the back half of the home and home series with first pitch scheduled for 10:30 am on an Education Day between RHP Aaron Shortridge and RHP Tommy Romero for the visitors. Catch all the action with Matt Neverett on the Bradenton Marauders Baseball Network by visiting BradentonMarauders.com, TuneIn Radio, MiLB.tv, or the MiLB First Pitch app!