Cabrera's Two Blasts Lead Tarpons Past Flying Tigers, 6-5
TAMPA, Fla. - Oswaldo Cabrera homered twice for his first-career multi-HR game as the Tampa Tarpons bounced back with a 6-5 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers in front of a crowd of 2,365 on Saturday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.Cabrera gave Tampa (33-30, 61-68) an early lead with
TAMPA, Fla. -
Cabrera gave Tampa (33-30, 61-68) an early lead with a towering solo homer to right with two outs in the first off RHP
RHP
A walk and an error loaded the bases before Simcox scored on a single by Urlich Bojarski. Bies limited the damage by getting a pop-out by
Bies picked Deatherage off of first to face the minimum in the fourth before yielding a leadoff single by Simcox in the fifth. One out later, Simcox took third on a base hit by
de Blok retired six-straight Tarpons before walking Florial with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. de Blok fell behind Cabrera, 3-0, before running the count full. Cabrera then crushed a 3-2 fastball over the wall in right-center for a go-ahead two-run homer, giving Tampa a 5-4 lead.
In the sixth, Gasper pulled a one-out single into right off de Blok, took second on a wild pitch and third on a groundout before scoring on a high return throw to the mound by Proctor.
de Blok (L, 2-12) allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits, walking two while striking out two in five and two-third innings, throwing 57 of 90 pitches for strikes.
Bies (W, 1-1) returned for the sixth and got two quick outs before exiting with a season-high 103 pitches (69 strikes). The 23-year-old allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits, one walk and one hit-batter in five and two-third innings, tallying five strikeouts.
RHP
In the ninth,
Cabrera (2-for-3, 2HR, Sac-F, 4RBI, 2R) tied a career-high with 4 RBI while logging his fourth-straight multi-hit game. Over his last 11 games, the 20-year-old is batting .439 (18-for-41) with 9R and 10RBI.
The series wraps up with a doubleheader on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. LHP
The pitching matchup for Game Two is still to be determined. Live play-by-play of the action will be available on the Tampa Tarpons Baseball Network.
As part of Family Funday Sunday, fans can take advantage of $40 Family 4-Packs, which include four tickets, four hats and four $5 concession vouchers (Family 4-Packs are only available at the George M. Steinbrenner Field Box Office. In addition, Kids 14-and-under can the run the bases after the game.