Threshers drop home finale 3-1
The loss coupled with a Lakeland win Saturday meant that the Threshers will miss the playoffs this season despite being just one game out of the division. Due to a tie-breaker going to Lakeland due to overall record, the Flying Tigers will take second place in the FSL North regardless of how Sunday's final games go for each team.
Clearwater had trouble getting their offense going against Dunedin starter Frank Gailey on Saturday night. Gailey, who began the season with the Threshers before being released by the Phillies, used his off-speed arsenal effectively to keep the home bats missing. The Threshers managed to scrape up a two-out run in the bottom of the fourth, as Anthony Hewitt's single up the middle plated Pete Lavin to make it 1-0.
Threshers starting pitcher Gabriel Arias was excellent in his first four innings of his Clearwater debut. But the right-hander fresh off a promotion from class-A Lakewood ran into trouble in the top of the fifth. With two outs and runners on first and second, a wild pitch ended up in no-man's land, allowing Dunedin's Oliver Dominguez to score all the way from second. An RBI single by Kenny Wilson then scored Jon Berti from second to make it 2-1.
Gailey's night was done after six stellar innings, as he fanned 12 Threshers while allowing just one run on four hits. He was relieved by Jason Frasor in the seventh.
After going down 1-2-3 vs. Frasor, the Threshers stirred up some drama in the eighth by loading the bases with two outs against lefty reliever Matt Wright. Chris Duffy's strikeout on a pitch in the dirt nearly scored a run, but catcher Jack Murphy was able to complete the throw to first just in time to negate the Threshers from tying the match.
That would be as close as the Threshers would get, as Dunedin added a run in the top of the ninth and held on for the 3-1 victory.
Despite the loss, the Threshers did manage to set a new all-time season attendance high at Bright House Field. The night's attendance of 7,054 brought the season total to 177,297, eclipsing the previous season-high of 177,117.
These two teams will play the final game of the regular season on Sunday in Dunedin at 5:00pm.
Shark Bites:
Jim Murphy entered the game with 42 doubles, just one shy of Darin Ruf's record of 43 set in 2011... Reliever Hector Neris entered the game tied for second in the league with 49 appearances this season... Cameron Rupp is batting .391 over his last 10 games... Carlos Alonso was at .353 over his last five matchups.