TAMPA, Fla. - Trailing, 3-0, after five innings, the Tampa Tarpons struck for six runs in the sixth inning and withstood a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Clearwater Threshers, 7-6, on Sunday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field.Tampa (10-14) collected six of its season-high 15 hits in the sixth, including
TAMPA, Fla. - Trailing, 3-0, after five innings, the Tampa Tarpons struck for six runs in the sixth inning and withstood a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Clearwater Threshers, 7-6, on Sunday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Tampa (10-14) collected six of its season-high 15 hits in the sixth, including a go-ahead three-run home run by Max Burt - his first-career home run.
Pablo Olivares began the inning by greeting Clearwater reliever Gustavo Armas (L, 1-1) with a ground-rule double to left. Olivares scored on the next pitch, when Diego Castillo lined a single into center. Oswaldo Cabrera followed with a bunt single down the third base line, and Dermis Garcia walked to load the bases.
Jason Lopez tied the game with a ground-rule double over the right field wall. One out later, Burt blasted his homer to left, giving the Tarpons a 6-3 lead.
Clearwater (10-14) scored two batters into the game, when Dalton Guthrie doubled into right field and scored on a base hit to center by Jhailyn Ortiz.
Tampa starter Frank German retired eight of the next nine batters he faced before Madison Stokes doubled to open the fourth. Matt Vierling followed with a two-run homer to left, giving the Threshers a 3-0 lead. It was Vierling's second home run of the series.
German retired six of the final seven batters he faced, stranding a one-out double in the fifth. The right-hander allowed three runs on six hits in five innings, walking none while striking out three on 91 pitches (60 strikes) in his fourth start of the season.
LHP Dalton Lehnen (W, 2-1) held the Threshers to one hit and two walks while striking out one in three scoreless innings in relief of German.
Olivares singled and stole second to begin the seventh against RHP Luis Carrasco. After a walk by Castillo, a wild pitch advanced both runners, and Olivares appeared to score on a sacrifice fly by Cabrera, but home-plate umpire Ben Fernandez ruled Olivares out for leaving too early.
Garcia followed with a line drive to left, scoring Castillo for a 7-3 advantage. A single by Lopez and a walk by Tyler Hill loaded the bases before a flyout by Burt ended the frame.
Tampa reloaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single in the eighth, but LHP Zach Warren struck out the next three batters to strand the bags full.
RHP Matt Wivinis relieved Lehnen in the ninth and Clearwater began the inning with three-straight hits, capped by an RBI double by Ben Aklinski. One out later, a pop-up RBI single by Jose Gomez fell down the right field line, cutting the lead to 7-5.
Guthrie followed with a deep fly ball to left and Matt Pita slid onto the warning track while making the catch, resulting in a sacrifice fly. Wivinis then got Ortiz to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.
RHP Julian Garcia started for Clearwater and scattered five hits over five shutout innings, tallying six strikeouts without issuing a walk. Garcia threw 47 of 73 pitches for strikes.
Olivares (3-for-4, 2B, BB, R, 2SB) and Lopez (3-for-4, 2B, 2RBI, R) each logged their first three-hit games of the season. Castillo (2-for-4, BB, RBI, 2R, CS) and Cabrera (2-for-5, R) also had multi-hit games. Garcia (1-for-2, BB, RBI) tallied his league-leading 24th RBI.
Following an off-day on Monday, the Tarpons will remain home to host the Charlotte Stone Crabs for a three-game series. RHP Clarke Schmidt (0-1, 3.57) is scheduled to start in the series-opener against RHP Paul Campbell (2-2, 5.57) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Live play-by-play of the action will be available on the Tampa Tarpons Baseball Network.
On "2-for-1 Tuesday," fans can get buy-one, get-one free deals on lower reserved tickets, hot dogs, burgers, fries and nachos from 5:30-7:30 p.m. (2-for-1 tickets may only be purchased from the George M. Steinbrenner Field Box Office.
