TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Tarpons (18-25) snapped a seven-game losing streak by crushing four home runs in a 9-2 victory over the Florida Fire Frogs (19-25) on Monday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. New York Yankees' OF Giancarlo Stanton batted second and played in right field for six
TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Tarpons (18-25) snapped a seven-game losing streak by crushing four home runs in a 9-2 victory over the Florida Fire Frogs (19-25) on Monday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
New York Yankees' OF Giancarlo Stanton batted second and played in right field for six innings in his first rehab game with Tampa.
RHP Clarke Schmidt (W, 2-2) tied a career-high with nine strikeouts while logging his first-career quality start, scattering three hits and a walk over six shutout innings, throwing 59 of 85 pitches for strikes.
Jason Lopez lined a leadoff single in the second, took second on a wild pitch and third on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Angel Aguilar , giving the Tarpons a 1-0 lead.
In the third, Stanton crushed a 2-1 pitch from RHP Nolan Kingham off the batter's eye in centerfield for his first home run of the season. The 29-year-old struck out in each of his two other plate appearances, finishing 1-for-3.
Dermis Garcia one-upped Stanton in the fourth, blasting a homerun even higher off the batter's eye in centerfield. The 21-year-old added another homer in the eighth, logging his second multi-homer game of the season (April 16th vs. Bradenton).
Oswaldo Cabrera got in on the fun with a solo shot in the sixth for his first home run of the season, giving the Tarpons a 4-0 lead.
Steven Sensley lined a leadoff single in the seventh and Aguilar reached on an error by third-baseman Kevin Josephina. Omar Carrizales followed with a double to right, scoring Sensley. A wild pitch plated Aguilar and, after a walk by Wendell Rijo , Carrizales scored while Pablo Olivares grounded into a double-play.
After tossing a scoreless seventh, RHP Greg Weissert allowed a pair of unearned runs in the eighth. Josephina reached on an error by Rijo at second base before Riley Delgado singled to right. A wild pitch advanced both runners before Josephina scored on a groundout by Brett Langhorne. William Contreras followed with an RBI single, cutting the lead to 7-2.
Kingham (L, 2-2) tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts while allowing a career-high three home runs, yielding seven runs (five earned) on seven hits and two walks, throwing 66 of 99 pitches for strikes.
Tampa added two more runs off RHP Sean McLaughlin in the eighth. After Garcia smashed his second homer, Sensley hit his second single, and Aguilar reached on an error by Delgado at shortstop. Carrizales followed with a base hit to left, scoring Sensley to make it 9-2.
RHP Kyle Zurak tallied two strikeouts while retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Garcia (2-for-4, 2HR, 2RBI, 2R) leads the Florida State League with 32 RBI and is tied for the lead with 10 home runs. Cabrera (2-for-4, HR, RBI, R), Sensley (2-for-4, 2R) and Carrizales (2-for-4, 2B, 2RBI, R) also logged multi-hit games.
RHP Miguel Yajure (1-5, 3.52) is slated to start against LHP Philip Pfeifer (0-1, 1.93) when the series continues 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.
