PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (July 31, 2018) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs swept the doubleheader Tuesday against the Florida Fire Frogs, winning games by 5-4 and 6-3 margins at Charlotte Sports Park.Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh of the first game, Stone Crabs (56-47, 22-14) first baseman Kevin Padlo walked with one
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (July 31, 2018) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs swept the doubleheader Tuesday against the Florida Fire Frogs, winning games by 5-4 and 6-3 margins at Charlotte Sports Park.
Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh of the first game, Stone Crabs (56-47, 22-14) first baseman Kevin Padlo walked with one out. Lucius Fox then singled to right advancing Padlo to second. The next batter was Brendan McKay, who bounced a single to center to make it 4-2. After a wild pitch which advanced McKay to second, Robbie Tenerowicz singled to left and drive in Fox and cut the lead to 4-3. Tristian Gray followed by singling to center to score McKay and tie the game at four. Two batters later, Josh Lowe shot a two-out, opposite field single to left to score Tenerowicz and help the Stone Crabs walk off with a 5-4 win.
Stone Crabs starter Brian Shaffer allowed five hits and one run in five innings in his Rays debut and first High-A start. Trevor Charpie (1-0) earned the win in Game 1 after throwing two innings in relief.
The Fire Frogs (43-57, 14-20) got the scoring going in the top of the first. Jared James delivered a ground rule double to center to start the game. After a Cristian Pache single, James scored on a fielding error to make it 1-0 Florida. They then added three runs in the top of the seventh on RBIs from Marcus Moony, Riley Delgado, and Braxton Davidson.
In Game 2, the Stone Crab bats came alive early. After a Fox walk and a pair of singles from Lowe and Tenerowicz, Gray flew out to right to score Fox from third to make it 1-0. After a strikeout and a double steal, Jermaine Palacios cranked a two-run triple to left center to put the Stone Crabs up 3-0. The next batter was Joey Roach, who singled to left to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Stone Crabs added two more runs on singles from Gray and Palacios to take a 6-1 lead, going on to win the game 6-3.
Josh Fleming (1-1) earned his first High-A win, pitching six innings while only giving up one run and striking out five Fire Frogs.
Game three of the four-game set will see lefty Brendan McKay (2-2, 4.10) face right-hander Ian Anderson (2-5, 2.76) of Florida. Coverage on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network begins Wednesday at 6:20 pm with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
