CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Clearwater Threshers faced a 5-0 deficit entering the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon.Winners of 10 straight home games, the Threshers had been held to just five hits after a dominant start by Patrick Murphy.Clearwater (4-0) (36-36) proceeded to string together five consecutive hits
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Clearwater Threshers faced a 5-0 deficit entering the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon.
Winners of 10 straight home games, the Threshers had been held to just five hits after a dominant start by Patrick Murphy.
Clearwater (4-0) (36-36) proceeded to string together five consecutive hits to start the frame, and put the punctuation on a dramatic comeback with a no-doubt, two-run blast off the bat of Henri Lartigue to sweep the Dunedin Blue Jays with a 6-5, walk-off win.
Lartigue delivered the game-winner for the second straight day, giving the Clearwater Threshers a series sweep and a 15-7 record in the month of June.
McKenzie Mills racked up a season-high eight strikeouts in the start, working five scoreless innings and permitting just three hits and two walks. The game remained scoreless into the sixth inning.
Felix Paulino took over in relief, and the Blue Jays filled the bases with a walk, double, and another base on balls. Eduard Pinto followed with a single up the third base line to score two runs, and Nash Knight's grounder to second brought home another to make it 3-0.
Rodrigo Orozco blooped a single that fell just in from of left fielder Grenny Cumana, but Cumana came up firing and nabbed Pinto at the plate for his third outfield assist.
Dunedin (0-4) (31-41) would go on to add insurance in the seventh on a David Jacob solo homer, and another in the eighth when Nash Knight tripled and scored on a wild pitch from Addison Russ (1-0), before the right-hander hurled a perfect ninth.
Murphy kept the Threshers off balance through seven innings in the start for Dunedin, scattering five hits while picking up seven strikeouts. Connor Eller added a scoreless eighth, before Andy Ravel took over in the ninth.
Jose Pujols greeted him with a single to center, and Luke Williams followed by launching a deep drive out to left for his seventh homer of the season, and sixth in the month of June.
Cumana kept the rally going with a single to left, and Brian Mims drove a double to the warning track in right.
The Blue Jays then called upon Jonny Cheshire (4-1) to take over, and a wild pitch from Cheshire allowed Cumana to score to cut the deficit to 5-3. Arquimedes Gamboa came through with a single to right, scoring Mims to bring the Threshers to within one, with the tying run on base.
After Adam Haseley put down a sacrifice bunt to move Gamboa to second, a passed ball sent Gamboa to third with the tying run. Lartigue worked a full count, and blasted a payoff pitch well beyond the wall in right to send the Threshers home with their second-straight walk-off victory.
The Threshers will be off on Monday, before heading to Daytona for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday. Adonis Medina will take the hill in the series opener.
