Clearwater Clips Tampa 3-2 in Freaky Finish Tuesday

CLEARWATER (Tuesday, August 27) - The Clearwater Threshers earned an improbable victory Tuesday night, stunning the Tampa Yankees 3-2 in front of 2,738 fans at Bright House Field.

The Threshers (31-30, 66-63) managed to plate their three runs while recording just one hit in the game, helped along by seven walks issued by opposing pitchers. Tampa (26-34, 54-74) took a lead in the top of the ninth but couldn't hold on to defeat Clearwater. The two teams combined for three runs in the ninth inning on no hits, no errors and eight walks.

Clearwater opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning against Tampa starter Joel De La Cruz. Second baseman Carlos Alonso drew a leadoff walk, and moved up to third when left fielder Pete Lavin laced a single up the middle. Center fielder Aaron Altherr bounced a grounder to short that forced Lavin at second, but reached first safely to avert the double play. Alonso sped home on the play, scoring the first run to make it 1-0 Threshers.

Tampa evened the score in the top of the sixth against Threshers starting pitcher Severino Gonzalez, who walked Cito Culver with one out and then gave up a single to Taylor Dugas to put runners on first and second. Robert Refsnyder sent a single up the middle, scoring Culver to tie the ballgame 1-1.

The Yankees edged ahead of the Threshers in the top of the ninth. Reliever Ryan O'Sullivan (4-5) issued a leadoff walk to Dugas, who reached second on a groundout to short by Refsnyder. O'Sullivan intentionally walked Peter O'Brien before striking out Dan Fiorito for the second out, but then walked Cody Grice to load the bases. Jose Toussen worked the count full and drew the bases-loaded walk to bring home Dugas and put Tampa in front 2-1.

The Tampa lead was short-lived, however. Yankees reliever Zach Woods (0-1) started the ninth by loading the bases on three straight walks to Lavin, Altherr and first baseman Chris Serritella. Right fielder Cameron Perkins popped out to keep the runners where they were, but designated hitter Brock Stassi earned a walk with the bases full to bring Lavin home with the tying run. With the bases still loaded, third baseman Harold Martinez lofted a fly ball to right field that was caught by Grice and fired home. However, Altherr was able to slide around the tag of Jeffrey Farnham to plate the winning run.

Gonzalez took a no-decision, allowing one run on four hits and three walks against six strikeouts over seven innings. O'Sullivan got the win after surrendering a run on three walks and an intentional walk in two innings, fanning two.

De La Cruz didn't factor in the decision despite a terrific start, as he gave up just one run on one hit and one walk while whiffing six in 4.2 innings; he generated eight ground-outs and no pop-outs or line-outs. Eric Ruth tossed 2.1 superb innings in relief, walking one and fanning three. Woods took the loss despite allowing no hits in 1.2 frames, as he gave up two runs on five walks.

The Threshers and Yankees will square off in a double-header Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field, with lefty Ethan Stewart starting for Clearwater against Tampa lefty Rony Bautista. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m., and the pregame show will start at 4:45 on ThreshersBaseball.com.