Brewer Blasts Manatees Past Devil Rays

(Viera, FL) Brent Brewer crushed a three-run, walk-off home run with two outs in the 13th inning to give Brevard County a come-from-behind win over Vero Beach, 6-3. The Manatee offense was shut down most of the day, as Devil Rays starter Wade Townsend teamed up with relievers Chris Kelly and Darin Downs to limit the Manatees to just one run in the first eight innings. Manatees' starter Chris Cody was also effective, working out of some tough jams to allow just two runs in six innings.

Mike Wlodarczyk entered the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead, but was unable to close things down for the save. Taylor Green led off the inning with a single, followed by Lou Palmisano's groundout and another single from Chuck Caufield. Brent Brewer struck out for the second out of the inning, but Kenny Holmberg drew a walk to keep the rally alive. Yohannis Perez came through with a clutch single to centerfield, scoring two runs to tie the game at 3-3 as the teams headed to extra innings.

The Manatees' Rafael Lluberes and the Devil Rays' Ryan Owen took turns putting zeroes on the board for three innings, until Lluberes gave way to Mike McClendon. McClendon (6-5) pitched a scoreless 13th inning, and Owen ran out of gas in the bottom half of the inning. After getting one out, Owen hit Green with a pitch, and then allowed a single to Palmisano. Caufield flew out for the second out, bringing Brewer to the plate. Brewer got the pitch he was looking for, and smashed it over the wall to send the Scout Night crowd of 1,054 home happy.

Brevard County heads to Palm Beach to begin a three-game set on Wednesday. The Manatees are now just five games out of first place, and will be looking to gain even more ground during this series. Bobby Bramhall (3-4, 2.69) will start the series opener for the Manatees, taking on Nicholas Additon, who is making his Cardinals debut. He was 9-5 with a 2.50 ERA in 19 starts for the Quad Cities River Bandits this season. Game time is 7:05pm.

Brevard County's next home series begins Saturday, as they face the St. Lucie Mets in a doubleheader, with Game 1 beginning at 5:00pm.