FSL1 Clearwater Threshers

Leiter K's 8 in Relief, Threshers Lose 5-2

Published on April 23, 2015 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Clearwater Threshers News Release


LAKELAND, Fla. - Mark Leiter, Jr. struck out eight batters in a relief appearance on Thursday night, but the Clearwater Threshers could not overcome an early deficit in falling 5-2 at the hands of the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the series opener.

Willians Astudillo singled in the fourth inning, pushing his hitting streak to a team-high 12 consecutive games.

Clearwater (8-7) plated a pair of unearned runs in the second to grab the lead against Lakeland starter Tommy Collier (2-0).

Dylan Cozens got it going with an opposite-field double to start the inning. A chopper toward short allowed Cozens to move up 90 feet, and Aaron Brown then reached when a grounder with the infield drawn in was mishandled by third baseman Francisco Martinez for an error.

With Mitch Walding at bat, Brown took off for second and the throw from catcher Grayson Greiner skipped through into center. The error on Greiner permitted Cozens to score, and second baseman Tyler Hanover's throw home was also wild allowing Brown to hustle into third.

Walding worked an 11-pitch at-bat, and came through by sending a fly ball to right for a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Lakeland (6-9) rallied back in the bottom of the third against Miguel Nunez (0-1).

The first four men in the order reached, capped by a Steven Moya three-run home run that gave the Flying Tigers a 4-2 advantage.

Lakeland plated another in the fifth, bringing home an unearned run after Curt Powell stole third and came home when Andrew Knapp's throw carried into left field.

Nunez would be charged with all five runs - four earned - on eight hits and a pair of walks in four innings.

Leiter entered with two on in the fifth, and promptly struck out the first two men he faced before inducing a ground ball fielder's choice to end the inning.

After a perfect sixth, Leiter permitted a walk and a single to open the seventh.

The right-hander then struck out Dominic Ficociello, Raph Rhymes, and Greiner - on just nine pitches.

Leiter finished with eight strikeouts in his four innings in relief.

The Threshers will look to even up the series on Friday, as Colin Kleven (0-1) gets the ball opposed by Lakeland's Locke St. John (0-2). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., and the call can be heard live on threshersbaseball.com beginning at 6:15 p.m.

Check out the Clearwater Threshers Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Florida State League Stories from April 23, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central