Garcia Drives in 4 in 9-2 Victory
June 23, 2017 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Clearwater Threshers News Release
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Wilson Garcia went yard for the second-straight day, leading the Threshers offensive surge in a 9-2 win over the Daytona Tortugas at Spectrum Field.
Garcia drove in a season-high four runs, including a no-doubt, three-run shot to right in the third inning. Cord Sandberg also went deep for his first home run this year for Clearwater, and his fourth longball total this season.
Emmanuel Marrero finished 3-for-5, and Derek Campbell reached base all four times in his return from the disabled list.
Clearwater (39-32, 1-0) opened the second half with one of its largest offensive outpourings of the year.
Garcia got the Threshers ahead in the first inning, singling to left-center to score Marrero.
Two innings later, Marrero opened with a knock to right-center and Campbell worked a walk to set the table for Garcia. The Threshers first baseman pounced on the first offering from Wyatt Strahan (0-1) and crushed a three-run home run to right, his sixth of the season and second in as many days.
Jacob Waguespack held Daytona (33-33, 0-1) off the board until the fourth.
With the bases full, Brantley Bell got jammed and looped a grounder on the right side, resulting in a force out at second. That permitted Alfredo Rodriguez to cross the plate, snapping Waguespack's streak of 14.1 consecutive scoreless innings.
Luis Gonzalez followed with an infield hit, scoring Daniel Sweet to cut the lead to 4-2.
Waguespack (4-2) worked around a one-out error to toss a scoreless fifth, finishing off another solid outing. Since joining the rotation on May 25, the 23-year-old has surrendered only four runs in 24 innings, a 1.50 ERA.
Clearwater pushed two more across in the fifth on an error and a wild pitch.
Blake Quinn entered in relief in the sixth, and tossed two hitless innings. He held the Tortugas to just one walk and picked up three strikeouts.
Cornelius Randolph and Deivi Grullon greeted Ryan Hendrix with back-to-back singles to open the ninth before a double play moved Randolph to third with two outs. Jose Pujols reached on an error, scoring Randolph, and Sandberg launched a two-run jack to the berm in right to open up a 9-2 advantage.
Luke Leftwich finished it off, working two shutout innings.
Clearwater and Daytona will meet for game two of the four-game set on Friday, when Edgar Garcia (1-2) takes the hill against Jonathan Crawford (0-3) at 6:15 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com starting at 6 p.m.
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Florida State League Stories from June 23, 2017
- Garcia Drives in 4 in 9-2 Victory - Clearwater Threshers
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