Home woes continue, Tampa falls to Lakeland in extras, 6-4

TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Tarpons (4-15) dropped an extra inning contest to the Lakeland Flying Tigers (13-6) for the second consecutive night. The teams battled back and forth amidst an EDM music festival blaring beyond the right field wall. Jim Jarvis came up with the big hit in the eleventh, blasting a two-run homer to right field to break the tie and ultimately win the game. Despite Lakeland putting up six runs, only one of them was earned. Tampa’s pitching staff held Lakeland down for five hits over the course of ten innings.

LHP Allen Facundo (4.2IP, 2H, 1R/0ER, 1 BB, 2K, WP) tossed four-plus innings of one-run ball. The one run Facundo gave up was unearned and came in the fifth. He used a fastball and slider combo, with the swing and miss pitch being the slider. Facundo recorded a whiff rate of 60% on the slider while also limiting hard contact on the pitch. Lakeland batters had an average exit velocity of 76.8 MPH on the slider.

1B Coby Morales and LF Jackson Castillo hit back-to-back one-out singles in the second to put runners on the corners for Tampa. Castillo swiped second base and CF Willy Montero drove in Morales for the first run of the night with an RBI groundout to third base.

John Peck hit a two-out single to center field to knock Facundo out of the game in the fifth. RHP Kris Bow came in and loaded the bases for Jarvis. Jarvis tapped a comebacker to Bow, who tried tagging Jarvis on the way to first, but he missed the tag, and the ball rolled away toward the first base dugout. When Bow recovered, he threw to third base, but nobody was covering the bag, which allowed two more runs to score and clear the bases. Jarvis ended up on second after the error and crossed the plate on an RBI single from Clayton Campbell.

The Tarpons loaded the bases in the bottom half of the fifth with a walk from Montero and singles from DH Tomas Frick and C Edinson Duran. RF Oscar Gonzalez roped a 104.4 MPH double just over the outstretched glove of Brett Callahan in center field. Two runs scored, and Duran, who was on first, hesitated to see if the ball was going to be caught. Gonzalez was off to the races right away and passed Duran, rounding the second base bag, resulting in the field umpire, Sam Harris, calling Gonzalez out. Manager James Cooper did not agree with the call, running out to second base to voice his complaints. After a finger point and some screaming, Harris ejected Cooper from the game.

Tampa fought back to even the score in the seventh. Duran looped a one-out double into left-center field, and the Florida State League’s hit leader, 2B Enmanuel Tejeda, came through again, singling in Duran to knot the score, 4-4.

For the second night in a row, the game headed to extras. With one away and David Smith on second as the ghost runner, Jarvis broke the tie. Jarvis launched a two-run homer over the wall in right. The 360-foot go-ahead homer was Jarvis’ first of the year.

Gonzalez led off the bottom of the tenth, legging out an infield single, which put the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate. Tampa could not muster any more offense after that, as they went down quietly to end the game.

RHP Josh Grosz will take the hill tomorrow, looking to get Tampa back in the win column. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at GMS Field, as the Tarpons will host a campout for BSA Scout Night.