Bennett Bashes Big Hit in Ninth-Inning Comeback

WP: Drew Garrett (1-1, 0.77)

LP: Osiel Rodriguez (0-1, 2.70) BS, 1

BOX SCORE

TAMPA, FL – Pierce Bennett played the hero for the Clearwater Threshers (20-11) with a double in the ninth to tie the game and scored the winning run in a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Tarpons (10-21) on Thursday night at Steinbrenner Field. After a Friday off, the Threshers return to action on Saturday to continue their series against the Tarpons.

The first three batters of the game reached base for the Tarpons, with two scoring in the bottom of the first inning to give Tampa an early 2-0 lead. Raylin Heredia began a small two-out rally for the Threshers in the second with a double off Tarpons hurler Allen Facundo. Avery Owusu-Asiedu and Trent Farquhar followed him up with back-to-back walks to load the bases before Aidan Miller was hit by a pitch. Heredia scored on play, halving the Tarpons lead down to 2-1.

Heredia doubled again with one out in the fourth inning, and Owusu-Asiedu drove him in on the very next pitch with a double to tie the game at two. Farquhar reached on an error by Tarpons shortstop Roderick Arias to move Owusu-Asiedu to third base. Miller drove him in with a single to left to give the Threshers a 3-2 lead.

Tampa took the lead back with three one-out hits in the fifth, finishing the frame with a 4-3 advantage. The score remained 4-3 until the ninth, which began when Keaton Anthony was hit by a pitch by Tarpons reliever Osiel Rodriguez on the first pitch of the inning. He was replaced by Dakota Kotowski as a pinch-runner.

With one out in the frame, Bennett drilled a double down the right-field line to tie the game at four, advancing to third on an error by the Tarpons right fielder. Two pitches later, Bryson Ware hit a shallow fly to right, deep enough to score Bennett on the sacrifice fly and give the Threshers a 5-4 lead.

Braydon Tucker allowed four runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings with one walk and one strikeout in a no-decision. Paxton Thompson tossed 2.0 shutout frames, allowing one hit and striking out three. Drew Garrett (1-1) earned the win in the final 2.0 shutout innings, striking out four and allowing two hits.

Garrett earned his first win of the season...Miller moved inside the top-10 leaderboard in the FSL with his 15th RBI...Caicuto threw out both Tarpons runners who attempted to steal...Garrett has not allowed a run since his season debut on April ninth...Clearwater has taken the lead in the ninth inning in three of their last five wins...The Threshers continue a six-game series against the Tampa Tarpons on Saturday, May 11...First pitch will be at 12:00 PM at Steinbrenner Field...You can purchase tickets for the Threshers season at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The Box Office at BayCare Ballpark is also open daily to purchase Threshers tickets…The hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays.