Stone Crabs pitch way to 7-1 win

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (May 18, 2018) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs pitching staff held the Jupiter Hammerheads to just four hits Friday, striking out 11 en route to a 7-1 win at Charlotte Sports Park.
Stone Crabs (19-21) left-hander Brendan McKay (1-0) earned the win in his first High-A outing, allowing just one hit over five scoreless innings. The Rays' first round pick in 2017 struck out five and didn't walk a batter.
"There were those first game jitters obviously," McKay said. "I was really just attacking the zone and getting ahead early. I just force hitters to swing early because they know they can't fall behind so they get anxious or try to do too much early in the count."
McKay has held left-handed batters hitless in 28 at bats at two levels this season.
Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi allowed one run on two hits over three innings and Brandon Koch worked a scoreless ninth.
The Stone Crabs got the offense going with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. With two outs and nobody on, Charlotte strung together five straight hits to take a 3-0 lead. Jesús Sánchez, Kevin Padlo and Tristan Gray all notched two-out RBIs.
After Justin Twine's home run made it 3-1 in the second, Miles Mastrobuoni walked before Lucius Fox singled him to third in the bottom of the second. Two batters later, Robbie Tenerowicz drove in Mastrobuoni with a single to center to make it 4-1.
Tenerowicz finished 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored. He scored the lone Charlotte run in the fourth before Gray doubled home Sanchez to cap the scoring and extend the Stone Crabs' lead to 7-1 in the seventh.
The Stone Crabs will go for the series win over Jupiter Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. Sam McWilliams (1-1, 1.89) makes the start for Charlotte against Jordan Yamamoto (0-0, 0.000) of the Hammerheads. Coverage starts at 5:50 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.