Big Eighth Inning Pushes Beach Dogs by Tarpons, 7-6
BOX SCORE CLEARWATER, FL - Despite trailing 5-1 in the sixth, the Clearwater Beach Dogs stormed back for a 7-6 victory over the Tampa Tarpons in front of 2,366 on Friday night at BayCare Ballpark. Left-hander Jordi Martinez made his 15th start of the season on the mound for Clearwater,
CLEARWATER, FL - Despite trailing 5-1 in the sixth, the Clearwater Beach Dogs stormed back for a 7-6 victory over the Tampa Tarpons in front of 2,366 on Friday night at BayCare Ballpark.
Left-hander Jordi Martinez made his 15th start of the season on the mound for Clearwater, tossing a season-high six innings and allowing five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts.
The Beach Dogs (20-32, 55-62) opened the scoring in the second inning on an RBI single by Troy Schreffler. It was Schreffler's fourth RBI of the season.
After the Tarpons (29-21, 56-60) pushed home three runs in the third to make it 3-1, the visitors added solo home runs by Connor Cannon in the fifth and Ben Rice in the sixth to build a 5-1 lead.
Clearwater inched closer in the sixth inning as first baseman Chad Castillo doubled for the third time in the series, an RBI double, and Jamari Baylor picked up an RBI groundout to trim the deficit to 5-3.
Right-hander Daniel Harper pitched a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen for the Beach Dogs, before lefty rehabber Keylan Killgore put together a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts to keep the home team down by only two.
Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Clearwater loaded the bases and sent nine hitters to the plate as center fielder Justin Crawford reached on an error that scored two runs to tie it, before catcher Caleb Ricketts gave the Beach Dogs their first lead with a two-run single to make it 7-5. Ricketts reached base three times in the game and finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
In the ninth, right-hander Carlos Betancourt entered for the Beach Dogs and despite allowing one run on three hits to make it a 7-6 ballgame, secured his first save of the season as the home team evened the six-game series.
Clearwater and Tampa will resume the six-game set on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Right-hander Gunner Mayer (1-4, 4.73) is scheduled to start for the Beach Dogs, with coverage on the Beach Dogs Broadcasting Network set to begin at 6:20 p.m.