Skid Reaches Four Games with Friday Defeat
BRADENTON, Fla. — The Marauders jumped out to a three-run advantage in the first inning Friday night, but the lead dissolved within two innings in a 9-3 loss to the Tampa Tarpons at LECOM Park. The loss was the fourth in a row for the Marauders (13-12), who dropped into
BRADENTON, Fla. — The Marauders jumped out to a three-run advantage in the first inning Friday night, but the lead dissolved within two innings in a 9-3 loss to the Tampa Tarpons at LECOM Park.
The loss was the fourth in a row for the Marauders (13-12), who dropped into fourth place in the West Division as a result.
Brenden Dixon clocked a leadoff homer to left-center in the first inning off Tampa’s Juan Carela (2-0). Jase Bowen later hit a two-out double, and back-to-back RBI-doubles by Jacob Gonzalez and Mike Jarvis gave the Marauders a 3-0 lead. Gonzalez’s double extended his on-base streak to 23 games.
But Madison Santos coaxed a leadoff walk from Po-Yu Chen (0-1) in the second inning, later scoring the Tarpons’ first run on an Anthony Seigler single.
In the third, Luis Santos led off for Tampa (13-11) with a double and scored on a double by Alexander Vargas, bringing the Tarpons within one run. Jasson Dominguez followed with a two-run home run to center field to put Tampa in front, 4-3.
Chen would go on to pitch into the fourth inning and matched his career-high with seven strikeouts, but his four runs allowed were a season-high.
Carela, meanwhile, rebounded after his rocky first inning and lasted five and two-thirds innings, striking out seven en route to earning the win.
The Marauders placed the tying run on second base in the bottom of the third, but from that point through the eighth inning, Bradenton was unable to mount any substantial threat until the ninth, when they loaded the bases on three walks but failed to score.
The Tarpons added a run in the sixth on a wild pitch by Yunior Thibo, and in the seventh, Tampa sent all nine batters to the plate in a four-run romp that saw two hits, three walks, and a Marauders error to stretch the Tarpons’ lead to 9-3.
Tampa relievers Ryan Anderson and Carlos Gomez each pitched one and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief behind Carela.
Four Marauders pitchers—Chen, Thibo, Wilkin Ramos, and Cristian Charle—walked a combined eight batters in the game, one shy of the team’s season-high.
The series continues Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at LECOM Park. RHP Justin Meis (2-3, 4.50 ERA) will start for the Marauders, while the Tarpons have yet to announce their starting pitcher.
For more information about the Bradenton Marauders, please call (941) 747-3031, visit BradentonMarauders.com, or email [email protected].
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