PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Simon Muzziotti continued his hot stretch at the plate in Friday's series opener against the St. Lucie Mets, as the 20-year-old collected three hits at First Data Field in the Clearwater Threshers' 4-2 loss.
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Simon Muzziotti continued his hot stretch at the plate in Friday's series opener against the St. Lucie Mets, as the 20-year-old collected three hits at First Data Field in the Clearwater Threshers' 4-2 loss.
Muzziotti was responsible for the first run of the night, as the native of Venezuela singled to lead off the top of the third inning, and stole second during Jhailyn Ortiz's at-bat. Ortiz went down on strikes and Nick Maton followed with a fly out, but Matt Vierling drove the runner home with a single to left for the 1-0 lead.
The product of Notre Dame swiped second with Madison Stokes at the dish, and came around to score on a single by the third baseman for the two-run advantage.
Muzziotti added singles in the seventh and ninth frames to cap off the three-hit performance. The left-handed batter stretched his on-base streak to 12 games, and lifting his hitting streak to seven consecutive contests.
Kyle Glogoski whirled five shutout innings and left the game with a chance at picking up his second win with Clearwater (50-46, 14-16). The New Zealand native did walk four batters, but only gave up one hit while striking out three batters.
Austin Ross (4-1) took over for the starter and allowed just an infield single in the sixth, but surrendered all four St. Lucie (52-45, 20-11) runs in the seventh.
The reliever gave up a bunt single to Jake Ortega to start the four-run frame, then hit Manny Rodriguez with the next pitch, before seeing a first-pitch, infield-single off the bat of Hansel Moreno load the bases with nobody out.
The right-hander got to two strikes on Blake Tiberi, but saw a 2-2 pitch served into right field and plate two runs to tie the game at two apiece. A wild pitch to Jacob Zanon brought home Moreno for the go-ahead run. Carlos Cortes' RBI knock scored Tiberi to put the visitors in a 4-2 hole.
Alec Kisena (1-0) tossed 2.1 scoreless innings for the home team for his first win in his Advanced-A debut. Yeizo Campos (SV, 2) picked up his second save in as many chances for the Mets.
Clearwater looks to snap its seven-game losing streak in game two of the three-game set against St. Lucie on Saturday night at First Data Field. RHP Spencer Howard (1-1, 1.55) gets the call for the Threshers against the Mets' RHP Tylor Megill (0-0, --). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with coverage beginning at 6:15 p.m. with Threshers Live! The Pregame Show on threshersbaseball.com.
