Tampa Clubs Four Homers, Completes Sweep of Bradenton

TAMPA, Fla. -- The T-Yanks mashed four homeruns in a doubleheader sweep over Bradenton, 4-3 and 7-2, on Wednesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Tampa (43-18, 82-49) extends its winning streak to six games while finishing 10-4 against the Marauders (30-31, 67-61) in the season-series.
The Yankees put up four runs against Bradenton starter Logan Sendelbach in the second inning of game one. A base hit by Gosuke Katoh and a walk by Jhalan Jackson put runners aboard in front of a homerun by Alexander Palma . The three-run blast to left, his second in as many games, gave Tampa a 3-0 lead.
Hoy Jun Park followed with a walk and promptly stole second. Kyle Holder skied a deep fly out to center and Park tagged up to third. Arriving at third base, Park noticed a weak throw in by centerfielder Casey Hughston and sprinted for the plate, scoring the fourth run of the inning while crediting Holder with a sacrifice fly.
Sendelbach (L, 4-6) left after two innings, yielding four earned runs on five hits. The righty walked two, struck out one and threw 30 of 59 pitches for strikes.
RHP Brian Keller held Bradenton to three singles and a walk through four scoreless frames before the Marauders tallied three late runs.
Kevin Krause led off the fifth with a double and scored on a single by Carlos Munoz. Will Craig singled in the sixth and advance on a double by Ty Moore. Craig scored on a groundout by Mitchell Tolman and Krause followed with a two-out, RBI double, cutting the lead to 4-3. Keller escaped the inning by getting Munoz to groundout.
RHP Jordan Foley (SV, 6) tallied a strikeout and worked around a pinch-hit double by Stephen Alemais in the seventh to close out the win.
Keller (W, 5-3) made his eighth quality start for Tampa, yielding three earned runs on eight hits in six innings. The 23-year-old walked one, struck out six and threw 54 of 79 pitches for strikes.
The Yankees collected hits early and often against Bradenton starter Pedro Vasquez in the later game, tallying multiple hits in each of the first four innings.
Tampa grabbed the lead in the second when Katoh singled and scored on a double into the left field corner by Billy Fleming . A misplayed bunt by Vasquez allowed Palma to reach and a sacrifice bunt by Wes Wilson pushed the runners to second and third. Vasquez escaped the jam when Park flew out to left and left-fielder Logan Ratledge threw Fleming out at the plate.
Holder drilled a ground-rule double into right-centerfield to begin the bottom of the third. Estevan Florial followed by crushing a 2-0 fastball well over the right field wall for at two-run homer. One out later, Trey Amburgey singled into left and scored on a double into the left field corner by Katoh, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
Wilson pulled a leadoff single into left to begin the home half of the fourth and, one out later, scored on a two-run blast to right by Holder. One out later, Chris Gittens got in on the party by drilling a ball off the batter's eye in dead-centerfield, tallying the seventh Tampa run.
Vasquez (L, 9-7) surrendered seven earned runs on a career-high 11 hits, including a career-high three homeruns allowed, in four innings. The right-hander got two strikeouts without issuing a walk and threw 46 of 76 pitches for strikes.
RHP Adonis Rosa retired 14 of the first 16 batters he faced, holding the Marauders to a pair of singles in five scoreless innings before allowing a pair of runs.
Ratledge reached on a hit-by-pitch with one out in the sixth and advanced on a base hit by Hughston. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Ratledge scored on a sacrifice fly by Ke'Bryan Hayes. Will Craig followed with an RBI single, cutting the lead to 7-2. RHP Hobie Harris entered in relief and got Moore to fly out, ending the inning.
Rosa (W, 3-0) allowed two earned runs on four hits in five and two-third innings, collecting five strikeouts without issuing a walk and throwing 58 of 82 pitches for strikes. Harris stranded a two-out walk in a scoreless seventh to close the game.
Holder (4-for-5, HR, 2B, BB, Sac-F, 3RBI, 2R) clubbed his fourth homerun and hit safely in both games, extending his hit streak to 10 games. Amburgey (2-for-6), Katoh (3-for-6, 2B, RBI, 2R) and Gittens (2-for-5, HR, BB, RBI, R) also hit safely in both games, with Gittens blasting his 12th homer of the season.
Florial (2-for-4, HR, 2RBI, R) tallied his second homerun with Tampa, giving the 19-year-old 13HR with Tampa and Single-A Charleston combined. Palma (1-for-4, HR, BB, 2RBI, R) homered for the third time since joining the T-Yanks, giving the 21-year-old 4HR in 51 games between Tampa and Charleston.
Up next, the Yankees will host the Lakeland Flying Tigers for the first two games of a four-game set in the final regular-season series of the season. RHP Albert Abreu (0-3, 4.91 ERA) will start the opener versus RHP Kyle Dowdy (8-11, 3.60 ERA) on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. On Thirsty Thursdays, fans can enjoy 16 oz. Bud and Bud Light drafts for $3 and 12 oz. fountain drinks for $1 from 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. For more information, call (813) 673-3055 or visit www.tybaseball.com.