DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Clearwater Threshers started an 11-game road trip with a doubleheader split against the Daytona Tortugas with a pair of 4-3 finals at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The visitors dropped the opener before erasing a 3-0 deficit to come away with the victory in the nightcap.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Clearwater Threshers started an 11-game road trip with a doubleheader split against the Daytona Tortugas with a pair of 4-3 finals at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. The visitors dropped the opener before erasing a 3-0 deficit to come away with the victory in the nightcap.
Colton Eastman (1-2) fell into an early deficit in game one, surrendering a two-run home run off the bat of Hendrik Clementina in the first.
Clearwater (21-23) immediately responded in the second on a rocket over the wall in left from Jhailyn Ortiz. The slugger has smacked four long balls since May 15 to go along with 10 RBI.
Ortiz touched home once more on a sacrifice fly by Jake Scheiner in the fifth to tie the game at two apiece.
Eastman gave up a pair of one-out doubles in the fifth to put the Threshers behind 3-2, but Philadelphia Phillies' top prospect (MLB.com) Alec Bohm squared the match with a blast to left for his third round-tripper at the Advanced-A level.
Daytona (24-20) had another answer in the bottom half of the sixth with a solo bomb to center from Stuart Fairchild for the game's final tally.
Packy Naughton (5-2) picked up the win in game one with three runs allowed on five hits and five strikeouts in five frames. Julio Pinto (SV, 1) stranded the tying run at third in the seventh to earn his first save.
Game two had a similar start to the game one, with Daytona starting the game with a solo home run from Jose Garcia against Luis Ramirez.
The right-handed starter allowed solo tallies in the third and fourth innings to fall into a three-run deficit in the spot start.
Clearwater's offense kicked into another gear in the final three innings against Daytona's bullpen, pushing across all four runs from the fifth inning to the seventh.
Daniel Brito forced Wedolyn Bautista from the game with a lead-off single in the fifth. After a strikeout by Dalton Guthrie, Simon Muzziotti singled the runner over to third, leading to Bohm's RBI ground out to get the Threshers on the board.
Colby Fitch extended his on-base streak to 12 games with a one-out walk against Aneurys Zabala, and advanced to third on Ben Aklinski's single to right. An error by Andy Sugilio in the outfield allowed Aklinski to reach second to put the tying run into scoring position.
Brito went down on strikes for the second out, leading to Guthrie's two-run single to center to tie the game at three.
Matt Vierling roped a triple off the wall in left center against John Ghyzel (3-1), and stayed at third after Fitch grounded out back to the mound for the second out, but a wild pitch to Ortiz allowed the runner from third to race home for the go-ahead run.
Jonathan Hennigan (SV, 7) earned his seventh save in as many chances with a perfect seventh to split the twin bill.
Tyler Carr (1-0) made his Florida State League debut and picked up the win in the night game. The sidewinding right-hander worked 2.1 scoreless innings, scattering three hits along the way.
The South Alabama product worked out of a game-changing jam in the sixth after allowing a lead-off double to Randy Ventura. A passed ball allowed the runner to reach third with nobody out, but the reliever retired Lorenzo Cedrola, Sugilio and Garcia on ground outs to leave the man stranded.
Clearwater looks to gain the edge in the series in game three of the four-game set from Jackie Robinson Ballpark. It has yet to be determined who will take the mound for the Threshers against the Tortugas' Austin Orewiler (1-4, 4.19). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., with coverage beginning at 6:50 with Threshers Live! The Pre-game Show on threshersbaseball.com.
