Lakeland rally falls short in 8-6 defeat to Clearwater

The Lakeland Flying Tigers (60-61, 29-27) attempted to battle back from two four-run deficits but fell short in their 8-6 loss to the Clearwater Threshers (69-53, 29-27) on Friday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Clearwater kicked off the scoring in the second with two runs charged to starter Michael Massey. Jonathan Hogart smashed a solo shot to put the visitors ahead. Macon Winslow and Lane Haworth drew back-to-back walks and Cade Climie drove in Winslow on an RBI single, doubling the lead to 2-0.

The Flying Tigers cut the lead in half with a Cris Rodriguez solo shot off Threshers starter Sean Youngerman in the fourth inning, making it a 2-1 game.

The Threshers added four more runs off reliever Aleiman Cruz in the sixth. Matt Ferrara led off with an infield single, Hogart was hit by a pitch and Winslow drove in Ferrara on an RBI double. Climie smashed a three-run blast to extend the lead to 6-1.

Lakeland added one run back in the bottom half off reliever Cal Higgins. Jesus Pinto and Michael Oliveto led off with back-to-back walks and Javier Osorio drove in Pinto with an RBI single, cutting the deficit to 6-2.

The Flying Tigers added two more runs in the seventh off reliever Brnedan Sweeney. Hunter Dobbins reached on a leadoff single, Jordan Yost walked and Pinto drove in Dobbins on a single. Oliveto followed with another RBI single to cut the gap to 6-4.

Clearwater came back with two runs in the eighth off reliever Pedro Garcia. Winslow led off with a double, Haworth singled and Matt Quintanar walked. Climie recorded his fifth and sixth RBIs of the night with a two-run single, scoring Haworth and Quintnar, putting the lead back to four runs at 8-4.

Lakeland attempted to rally in the ninth with two runs off reliever James Tallon. Jude Warwick reached on a leadoff double, Oliveto drove him in on an RBI single and Rodriguez tripled in Oliveto to cut the deficit to 8-6 but the rally fell short, with the Flying Tigers stranding the tying run at the plate.

Youngerman (3-7) earned the win, surrendering one run on four hits while striking out four and walking one over 5.0 innings. Massey (0-1) took the loss, allowing two runs on one hit while striking out two and walking two over 1.2 innings in his professional debut.

Lakeland looks for a 3-2 series lead over the Threshers at home on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Flying Tigers RHP Kelvis Salcedo (0-3, 4.39) faces off against Clearwater LHP Yordanis Guerra (0-1, 7.20).