Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 14, 2018
July 14, 2018 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Florida Fire Frogs News Release
TODAY'S GAME: Game two of a three-game weekend set against the Clearwater Threshers (PHI) at Osceola County Stadium (1-0)...Florida is coming off a five-game series victory over the Daytona Tortugas at Jackie Robinson Ballpark (3-2), and a 6-2 road trip against Daytona and the Palm Beach Cardinals (3-0)...Third of four series (12 games) against the Philadelphia Phillies' affiliate, with five coming at Osceola County Stadium (2-1)...The Atlanta Braves' split a rain-shortened, two-game series at home against Clearwater from May 18-19.
TODAY'S STARTING PITCHER: 20-year-old Joey Wentz makes his 13th start of the season in game two of the three-game series against the Clearwater Threshers...The 6'5" lefty entered the 2018 season as the 10th-ranked prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization, according to MLB.com, and has since moved up to ninth...The Shawnee Mission East High School product did not factor into the decision of a 3-1, nine-inning victory over the Daytona Tortugas on July 9. The southpaw held the Cincinnati Reds' affiliate off the scoreboard on five hits and four strikeouts across 6.2 innings on 95 pitches (63 strikes)...Saturday will be Wentz's first career start against the Threshers.
FLORIDA RALLIES LATE TO COMPLETE COMEBACK OVER CLEARWATER: The Florida Fire Frogs plated two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 victory over the Clearwater Threshers to open up a three-game series on Friday night at Osceola County Stadium.
Jordan Rodgers tripled hom Kurt Hoekstra in the seventh, and scored on the next pitch to Garrison Schwartz, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center to tie the game. Braxton Davidson bounced a two-run, bases-loaded singled down the first-base line to push across Kevin Josephina and Cristian Pache for the go-ahead runs. Rodgers brought home an insurance run, two batters later, to give the home team their final tally.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: For the second consecutive contest, the Fire Frogs' offense erupted in the latter portion of game by plating all five runs in the seventh and eighth innings...Nine of the club's 11 runs in the series finale against the Daytona Tortugas were scored in the final three innings, and Florida also needed late rallies to take the doubleheader sweep away from Daytona on Monday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark...The clutch hits extend even further, as the Atlanta Braves' affiliate scored four runs in the three ninth innings against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium at the start of their previous road trip.
FIRST TO 100!: With a strikeout of Henri Lartigue in the fifth inning, Ian Anderson became the first pitcher in the Florida State League to reach 100 strikeouts in 2018...The Braves' fourth-ranked prospect set a new career mark with his eight strikeout of the night when the 20-year-old set down Kevin Markham on strikes to end the sixth inning...The Rexford, N.Y. native leads the league with 11.20 K/9, with 102 punchouts in just 82 innings of work.
BEWARE THE HOEK: Kurt Hoekstra picked up just one hit on Friday night, but advanced his hitting streak to five games, in which the corner infielder is batting .450 (9-for-20)...The 25-year-old is off to a .391 start across 13 games to start the fourth month of the season.
MAKE IT A DOZEN: Brett Cumberland drew drew an intentional walk in the ninth inning of Friday night's contest to extend his on-base streak to 12 games...During the stretch, the switch hitter is batting .282 (11-for-39), and has drawn 10 free passes...The product of Cal leads the Florida State League with 48 walks this season, six more than Taylor Trammell of the Daytona Tortugas, and one shy of tying a career-high set in 2017 in 111 games.
ANDERSON NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK: 20-year-old Ian Anderson was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for the week of July 2-8...Atlanta's fourth-ranked propect went 2-0 in his two starts, and did not yield a run to the Jupiter Hammerheads or Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium...Rexford, N.Y. native struck out 18 batters across 11 innings of work, while limiting the opposition to five hits, and issued just one free pass...The right-hander has not allowed a run since the sixth inning of a June 26 contest against the Dunedin Blue Jays at Osceola County Stadium, spanning 13 frames...Over three starts since the second half, Anderson has allowed two runs on 11 hits, four walks and 24 strikeouts across 17 innings, posting an ERA of 2.12 in the process.
Florida State League Stories from July 14, 2018
- Tortugas Walk-Off on Big Shellbowski Night - Daytona Tortugas
- Bats Back Wentz in Series-Clinching Win - Florida Fire Frogs
- Thompson-Williams Swipes 3 Bags in 5-2 Loss to Dunedin - Tampa Tarpons
- Williams Drives in Two in Loss - Clearwater Threshers
- Thompson-Williams Swipes 3 Bags in 5-2 Loss to Dunedin - Tampa Tarpons
- Paez Homer Sparks Mets to 7-2 Win over Cardinals - St. Lucie Mets
- Florida Fire Frogs Game Notes: July 14, 2018 - Florida Fire Frogs
- Tampa Tarpons Game Notes: vs. Dunedin - Tampa Tarpons
- New Team, Same Result: Tortugas Drop Opener, 9-2 - Daytona Tortugas
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