Paulino, Moniak Lead Clearwater to Series Win

CLEARWATER, FLa. - Felix Paulino delivered a season-high six innings of one-run ball, and Mickey Moniak crushed a two-run homer in the fourth inning to lead the Clearwater Threshers to a 5-1 win over the Daytona Tortugas before 4,004 fans at Spectrum Field on Tuesday night.
Clearwater (14-11) (46-47) has won three straight, and earned the series win after taking the first two from Daytona (13-13) (50-42).
Daytona struck first in the third inning, when Alberti Chavez jumped on the first pitch of the frame and homered to left for his first of the season to give Daytona a 1-0 lead.
Mickey Moniak turned it around in the fourth.
After Luke Williams singled to right-center and stole second, Moniak blasted a one-strike pitch well beyond the wall in right for a two-run shot, giving Clearwater a 2-1 lead.
The Threshers extended the advantage with three more in the fifth.
Edgar Cabral opened with a single to center, and after a walk to Kyle Martin, Raul Rivas grounded into a force out at second to set up runners at the corners.
With first baseman Bruce Yari playing even with the bag, Kevin Markham bounced a chopper over the head of Yari to bring home Cabral and Rivas on the double. The ball got by the right fielder Daniel Sweet, allowing Markham to speed all the way around the bases, making it a 5-1 game.
Paulino earned the win after a season-high six innings in the start, limiting Daytona to just a run on six hits. The right-hander walked two and collected four strikeouts.
Blake Quinn turned in two scoreless in relief, yielding a hit and a walk. Addison Russ brought it home, striking out two in a perfect ninth.
The Threshers will go for the sweep in the finale of the three-game set on Wednesday, with first pitch at 7 p.m. Mauricio Llovera has the start against Andrew Jordan, and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com starting at 6:45 p.m.