PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (Aug. 2, 2018) - The Florida Fire Frogs wrapped up their four-game series with the Charlotte Stone Crabs with a rain-shortened, 3-0 loss on Thursday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The defeat handed the Fire Frogs their fourth series sweep of the season.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (Aug. 2, 2018) - The Florida Fire Frogs wrapped up their four-game series with the Charlotte Stone Crabs with a rain-shortened, 3-0 loss on Thursday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The defeat handed the Fire Frogs their fourth series sweep of the season.
Huascar Ynoa (0-1) faced the minimum through the first two innings, but ran into trouble in the third. The right-hander gave up a lead-off single to Rene Pinto before striking out Andrew Miller for the first out. The 20-year-old made Miles Mastrobuoni roll over a 1-1 pitch to second, but the grounder bounced off the lip of the grass and shot over Kevin Josephina for a single to put runners at the corners.
Lucius Fox followed with an RBI knock through the left side to give Charlotte (24-14, 58-47) the 1-0 advantage.
Ynoa worked a scoreless fourth, but ran into more trouble in the fifth after allowing three consecutive one-out singles to Mastrobuoni, Fox and Brendan McKay to put Florida (14-22, 43-59) behind by two. Two batters later, a wild pitch to Tristan Gray plated Fox for the third run of the night for the home team.
The Fire Frogs' starter lasted five innings in his High-A debut, allowing all three runs on six hits, a walk and eight strikeouts. The native of the Dominican Republic fired home 88 pitches, with 55 going for strikes.
Kurt Hoekstra's (0x3) 14-game on-base streak was snapped with an 0-for-3 night at the dish. The third baseman grounded out and struck out in his first two at-bats, and popped out in his final plate appearance to start the seventh.
Drew Waters (0x2, BB) and William Contreras (1x2, 2B, BB) made their first appearances at the High-A level for the Fire Frogs in the series finale. Waters walked in his second trip to the plate with two outs in the third, and Contreras hit a ground-rule double to right-center in his second at-bat with one out in the fourth. Both players would make it to scoring position on Thursday, but would be left stranded on base.
Riley O'Brien (3-3) earned the win for the Stone Crabs by holding the Fire Frogs off the board through six frames on three hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Orlando Romero picked up his first save in his Advanced-A debut with a perfect seventh inning before the game was called due to rain.
Florida will try to snap the eight-game losing streak in game one of the three-game weekend set against the Fort Myers Miracle on Friday night at Hammond Stadium. LHP Tucker Davidson (6-8, 4.73) toes the rubber in the opener against RHP Brusdar Graterol (2-2, 5.19). First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
About the Florida Fire Frogs
The Florida Fire Frogs are the Advanced-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and compete in the Florida State League. The Fire Frogs play their home games at Osceola County Stadium, located at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. For more information, please visit www.FloridaFireFrogs.com, and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
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