FSL1 Clearwater Threshers

Garcia Overpowers Blue Jays in 4-2 Win

Published on September 2, 2016 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Clearwater Threshers News Release


CLEARWATER, Fla. - Elniery Garcia turned in a brilliant performance on Friday night, striking out a career-high 11 batters in leading the Threshers to a 4-2 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays at Bright House Field.

The Threshers (42-24) are still alive in the FSL North race after the series-opening win, and would need a sweep of the Blue Jays in order to clinch a playoff spot.

Garcia permitted only a run on two hits and three walks across his seven innings of work, setting a new career-best in strikeouts. He retired 12 straight from the first into the seventh, and set down 14 of the last 15 to bat against him.

A key moment in the ballgame came in the opening half inning.

Dunedin (42-22) put the first two men on thanks to a walk and a single, and Jonathan Davis laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance them both into scoring position for the league's top run producer in Ryan McBroom.

Garcia quickly got ahead of McBroom, and induced a strikeout on a curveball to secure the second out. He then struck out Max Pentecost on a fastball to end the threat and keep Dunedin off the board.

The Blue Jays would not have another hit until the seventh inning. After issuing a walk each in the second and third frames, Garcia retired the next ten he faced before Pentecost got one up in the wind for a solo home run.

All of the offense for the Threshers came in the fourth inning.

Jon Harris (3-2) retired each of the first nine men to bat before Zach Coppola dragged a bunt single toward second to lead off the fourth inning. Carlos Tocci pulled a double down the third base line to put Clearwater in prime position, with runners at second and third and nobody out.

Chace Numata came through with a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Coppola for the game's first run. A Kyle Martin grounder advanced Tocci down to third, and after a walk to Josh Tobias, Jiandido Tromp ripped a double to left-center to plate a pair and put Clearwater up 3-0.

Drew Stankiewicz followed with a double of his own, a liner to right-center that scored Tromp to bump the Threshers up by four.

Dunedin would threaten a final time in the eighth inning, bringing their second run home on a Dickie Joe Thon RBI single. Yacksel Rios entered in relief of Ulises Joaquin with the go-ahead run at the plate, and induced a double play from Davis to end the inning.

Rios went on to work a perfect ninth, earning his first save for Clearwater.

The Threshers will battle the Blue Jays in their final regular-season home game on Saturday, when Luke Leftwich (3-4) takes the hill against Conor Fisk (10-3). First pitch is at 6:15 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com and the TuneIn app starting at 6 p.m.

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Florida State League Stories from September 2, 2016


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