TAMPA, Fla. -- Trevor Stephan logged his first-career complete game in a 4-2 win in game one before the Tampa Tarpons (21-17) dropped the later contest, 2-0, to split the doubleheader with the Dunedin Blue Jays (16-21) on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.Estevan Florial (2-for-5, BB) reached base
TAMPA, Fla. -- Trevor Stephan logged his first-career complete game in a 4-2 win in game one before the Tampa Tarpons (21-17) dropped the later contest, 2-0, to split the doubleheader with the Dunedin Blue Jays (16-21) on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Estevan Florial (2-for-5, BB) reached base safely in both ends, extending his league-best streak to 31-consecutive games. The 20-year-old singled in the first game before drawing a walk in the latter to keep the streak alive.
Stephan (W, 3-1) tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings, holding the Blue Jays to two runs on five hits and a hit-batter. The right-hander threw 70 of 91 pitches for strikes without issuing a walk.
After striking out the side in a perfect first, Stephan allowed a leadoff home run by Bradley Jones in the second. It was Jones' fourth homer of the season.
Tampa answered in the home half against Dunedin starter Tayler Saucedo. Alexander Palma doubled, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Diego Castillo and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Timmy Robinson .
Palma, Castillo and Nathaniel Coronado each singled to load the bases with no outs in the fourth. Robinson followed with a two-run double to left. Keith Skinner reloaded the bags by reaching on a hit-by-pitch. One out later, Robinson tagged and scored on a sac-fly by Angel Aguilar , giving the Tarpons a 4-1 lead.
Saucedo (L, 2-2) logged his shortest outing of the season, yielding four runs on eight hits and a hit-batter in three innings. The southpaw walked one, struck out two and threw 34 of 57 pitches for strikes.
The Blue Jays added a run in the sixth when Logan Warmoth singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Jones.
Stephan allowed Riley Adams to reach on a hit-by-pitch in the seventh before ending his first career complete game with a fly out and a pair of strikeouts.
The bats went quiet for Tampa in the second game, leading to the Tarpons' third shutout loss of the season.
RHP Michael King made the start and retired six of the first seven batters he faced, including four strikeouts, before allowing a run in third.
D.J. Davis reached on a bunt single and advanced on a wild pickoff throw by King. A groundout pushed Davis to third before a wild pitch allowed the run to score.
After the hit by Davis, King retired the next 10 batters he faced. The streak ended on a leadoff single by Rodrigo Orozco in the sixth. Joshua Palacios followed with a walk and LHP Trevor Lane entered in relief. Orozco stole third and scored on a wild pitch while Lane struck out the side.
RHP Jonathan Cheshire made a spot-start for Dunedin and scattered two his and two walks over three scoreless innings, striking out a pair while throwing 27 of 48 pitches for strikes in his first career start.
LHP Jake Fishman (W, 1-0) tallied three strikeouts in two perfect relief innings in the fourth and fifth. RHP Nick Hartman (SV, 2) struck out four batters while holding the Tarpons to one hit in the final two innings.
King (L, 1-3) allowed two earned runs on three hits in five innings, walking one while striking out five while throwing 42 of 59 pitches for strikes. The right-hander is receiving the lowest run support among Tampa starters at 1.29 runs-per-start.
Robinson (1-for-4, 2B, Sac-F, 3RBI, R) had a season-high 3RBI in game one. Palma (2-for-6, 2B, 2R) scored twice in game one. Castillo (1-for-4, BB, Sac-B, R) reached base in both games.
The series continues on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. RHP Nick Green (3-1, 2.94) is scheduled to square off against RHP Angel Perdomo (0-1, 2.65). Live play-by-play audio will be available on the Tarpons Radio Network. On "Wing Deal Wednesday," fans can enjoy wing specials all night long: six wings for $5, 12 wings for $9 and 20 wings for $15.
