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Charlotte Stone Crabs

'Crabs Win Third Straight Behind Smyly & Snell

April 14, 2015 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (April 14, 2015) - The Stone Crabs have been dangerous at home during the first week of the 2015 season. In the first two games against Fort Myers, Charlotte won with 2-0 and 4-0 shutouts to earn a split in the series. When Daytona arrived on Monday night, things got a bit more shaken up in a 6-5 see-saw, although the pitching staff only allowed two baserunners after the fourth. On Tuesday morning, they were back to their old tricks, and the Opening Day tandem of Drew Smyly and Blake Snell carried them to their third straight win with another 2-0 shutout before a crowd of 1,295 at Charlotte Sports Park.

Smyly's roughest inning in his second rehab start came in the first when he surrendered a leadoff single to left fielder Phillip Ervin. With one out, an attempted steal was successful, and Ervin moved to third after deflecting Armando Araiza's throw to second with a feet first slide. However, Smyly returned to form and retired Sebastian Elizalde and Chad Wallach to end the threat.

Facing 2012 first round pick Nick Travieso, Charlotte got a leadoff single of its own from Andrew Velazquez. A Kean Wong groundout to second moved the speedy shortstop to second, and he soon scored on Joey Rickard's line singled into center. Jake Bauers then sent a high flyball into deep left center, but Ervin made the catch and threw back in with Rickard nearly at third for an inning-ending double play.

Smyly was flawless in his final two innings, striking out the side swinging in the second before getting two flyouts and a groundout in the third. Of his 40 pitches, 28 were strikes, and he finished his day by throwing 12 more pitches in the bullpen. He's next scheduled to pitch on Sunday, although where he pitches has yet to be determined.

Travieso's up-and-down performance continued after he too struck out the side in the second. In the third, Araiza picked up his first extra-base with a leadoff double over third. Braxton Lee then dropped down a bunt single on the third base side in front of the mount, but Travieso's (1-1) low throw skipped beyond the glove of Robert Ramirez at first and down the line. The throwing error brought in Araiza to make it 2-0, which was more than enough for Snell once again.

The lefthander nearly replicated his Opening Day masterpiece with five more scoreless innings, allowing just one infield single to Tortugas catcher Joe Hudson in the fifth. His only hiccup came in the sixth when he walked the tying runs on base with one out, before settling back down and fanning Elizalde. Wallach then sent a deep shot to left, but Rickard was already back to make the catch on the foot of the warning track for the final out. Perhaps the highlight of Snell's day was a four strikeout seventh inning, made possible by a dropped third strike to Taylor Sparks, who reached first safely before the next three Tortugas went down swinging.

Snell's (2-0) first 11 innings pitched have yielded no runs on just four singles, with 18 strikeouts and two walks. In the ninth, Nick Sawyer picked up his first save with an easy 1-2-3 frame, extending the Tortugas drought in the series to 14 straight innings without a run.

The series continues in Daytona on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:05 PM when Ryne Stanek (0-1, 3.60 ERA) makes his second start against the Tortugas Sal Romano (0-1, 13.50 ERA). You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 6:45 PM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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