KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Damon Jones dominated the Florida Fire Frogs on Wednesday night, but a five-run seventh inning against the Clearwater Threshers' bullpen turned a 2-0 lead into a 5-2 loss in the final game of the three-game series at Osceola County Stadium.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Damon Jones dominated the Florida Fire Frogs on Wednesday night, but a five-run seventh inning against the Clearwater Threshers' bullpen turned a 2-0 lead into a 5-2 loss in the final game of the three-game series at Osceola County Stadium.
Jones allowed just three baserunners in the no-decision, with free passes handed out to Jefrey Ramos, Riley Delgado, and Shean Michel. The 6-foot-5 lefty tallied seven more strikeouts on the night, boosting his total to 23 in just 14 innings of work in 2019. The Idaho Falls native also watched his ERA fall from 1.13 to 0.64 with the six shutout frames.
Clearwater (4-10) grabbed a lead in the third inning on a two-run shot off the bat of Madison Stokes against Hayden Deal. The corner infielder homered for the second consecutive game, and finished the series with four hits over the final two nights.
The big inning for Florida (6-8) came in the seventh against the combination of Luis Carrasco (0-2) and Connor Brogdon.
Carrasco walked the first three men he faced on 13 pitches before being lifted for Brogdon. The second hurler of the inning struck out Ramos for the first out, but a walk to Greyson Jenista forced home the first run of the inning.
Rusber Estrada lofted a broken-bat flare to left, scoring William Contreras from third. Kevin Josephina then sent an 0-1 pitch into the gap in right-center, clearing the bases and capping off the five-run frame.
Brandon White (2-0) earned the win for the home team, tossing two no-hit innings out of the bullpen for Barrett Kleinknecht's club. Sean McLauglin (SV, 1) picked up his first save by facing the minimum in the ninth.
The Threshers return home for a six-game home stand beginning Thursday night for game one of a three-game set against the Tampa Tarpons at Spectrum Field. RHP Alejandro Requena (1-0, 0.82) toes the rubber for Clearwater against Tampa's RHP Glenn Otto (1-0, 1.00) in the series opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m., with coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. on threshersbaseball.com.
