Relentless Clearwater attack sends Tortugas to third loss of series
CLEARWATER, Fla—Ariel Almonte connected for his Florida State League-leading 11th home run, but the Clearwater Threshers rode a relentless offensive attack as they defeated the Daytona Tortugas 12-6 on Friday night at BayCare Ballpark.
Clearwater (25-12) is assured of no worse than a series split by taking three of the first four from Daytona (19-18), who allowed 13 hits and a season-high 13 walks.
In the first inning, Daytona pounced first against Clearwater starter Casey Steward. With two outs, Alfredo Duno drew a walk, then came around when Almonte pounced on a first-pitch fastball and crushed it 427 feet to deep right-center for a two-run shot. Almonte’s 11th homer put Daytona ahead 2-0.
Clearwater, though, had an immediate answer against Daytona starter Jose Franco. Trent Farquhar led off and went to third on an Aidan Miller double. Rafael Marchan followed with a groundout to bring home Farquhar with a run, though Franco buckled down with a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
However, Clearwater kept at it as a leadoff walk and wild pitch preceded an RBI single by Avery Owusu-Asiedu to tie the game in the second. In third, the Threshers got the longball involved as Rafael Marchan led off the inning with a no-doubt blast to right. Two batters late, Bryson Ware dropped one on the berm in left-center field for a solo shot of his own, putting Clearwater ahead 4-2.
In the fourth, Daytona responded as Steward surrendered four straight hits with one out. Malvin Valdez jumped on a 3-0 fastball for an RBI double and Trey Faltine ripped a single up the middle that tied the game at 4-4.
Graham Osman entered on the mound for Daytona in the fourth and threw a scoreless inning. However, Clearwater rallied to take the lead against the lefty in the fifth, as the first three batters of the inning reached with Keaton Anthony singling in a run and Devin Saltiban adding an RBI double later in the frame to make it 6-4.
Against Alex Johnson in the sixth, the Threshers stretched the advantage. A leadoff walk was followed by an Aidan Miller RBI double. However, Faltine made an excellent throw from center to throw out Miller attempting to stretch it into a triple, helping to limit the damage to just one run.
Steward (4-1) went 5.2 innings for the Threshers before Jaydenn Estanista worked around two walks in a scoreless seventh as he bridged the gap with four outs.
Drew Garrett entered for the Threshers in the top of the eighth with a 7-4 lead and Daytona went to work immediately. Ricardo Cabrera singled for the second time and two walks loaded the bases with nobody out. However, Garrett induced a double play that scored Cabrera, but took the air out of the inning, as Daytona only scored the one run to close the gap to 7-5.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Threshers effectively put the game away as five straight hitters reached with one out, all of whom wound up scoring. The inning reached the point that backup catcher Andruw Salcedo took the mound to finish the inning, recording the final out of a five-run inning that put Clearwater ahead 12-5.
Garrett returned for the ninth and again struggled with his control, walking four batters in the inning, including three straight with two outs. The final walk, to Valdez, forced in a run, at which point Garrett departed for Josh Bortka, who came on and struck out the first and only man he faced to end the game, a 12-6 Clearwater victory.
Game five of the series against the Threshers is scheduled for Saturday night. Daytona is expected to start RHP Brian Edgington (1-2, 2.12) while Clearwater’s starter is still to be announced. First pitch from BayCare Ballpark is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio network with Brennan Mense begins at 6:15 p.m.
