Sanchez Goes 6 Strong in 3-2 Loss

Clearwater scraped its way back to pull even in the late innings for the second-straight day, but the Stone Crabs knocked three consecutive singles in the bottom of the ninth to walk off and hand Clearwater a 3-2 loss in the series opener at Charlotte Sports Park.
The Threshers (62-63, 24-31) now stand 3.5 games back of the Dunedin Blue Jays for the second playoff spot, with just 15 games remaining.
After MLB rehabber Matt Andriese was forced to edit after taking a comebacker off the leg in the first inning, Tyler Brashears hurled 3.1 scoreless and Michael Santos held Clearwater off the board until the eighth.
The Stone Crabs (62-60, 31-23) grabbed a pair of runs off starter Sixto Sanchez in the second.
With one down, Charlotte strung together four consecutive singles, including RBI knocks from Jonah Helm and Lucius Fox that put the Stone Crabs ahead 2-0.
Sanchez (0-3) worked six innings in the no-decision, permitting two runs on five hits. The 19-year-old righty did not issue a walk and struck out six.
Down 2-0 in the eighth, Wilson Garcia and Edgar Cabral opened the inning with a pair of singles, and following a force out and a pop out, Jose Antequera lined one to right to score Cabral and cut the deficit to one.
Emmanuel Marrero then dropped down a bunt toward third for an infield single, pushing home Carlos Duran to tie the ballgame at two.
Tyler Gilbert (0-6) held the Stone Crabs off the board through his first two innings, and notched the first out of the ninth before Riley Unroe singled to right. Thomas Milone sent a liner to left to move the winning run to third, and Helm knocked in Unroe with a base hit to right.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 6:05 p.m., when Ranger Suárez (2-3) takes the hill against Brandon Lawson (4-5).