Leiter Strikes out 5 in Rehab Game, Threshers Fall Short
Published on May 9, 2018 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Clearwater Threshers News Release
LAKELAND, Fla. - Mark Leiter Jr. struck out five of the six batters he faced in his second rehab appearance for Clearwater, but the Threshers late surge fell short in a 6-5 loss to the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Wednesday night at Publix Field.
Leiter worked 1.2 hitless innings and issued just a walk, as the right-hander works his way back from a right forearm strain. He was placed on the Phillies disabled list on March 29.
The bullpen for the Threshers (13-20) combined for seven shutout innings between five different relievers. Austin Listi and Arquimedes Gamboa each finished with three hits, as Listi extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
Lakeland (14-18) struck first on Wednesday, when Daz Cameron lined a 3-2 offering over the wall in left for his first home run of the season, giving the Flying Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
The Flying Tigers inflated that lead in the second, when six straight reached against McKenzie Mills (0-2) to start the frame. A walk, bunt single, and infield hit filled the bases, and Cameron drew a four-pitch walk to push home a run. Chad Sedio and Isaac Paredes followed with a pair of singles to end the day early for Mills, with Lakeland up 5-0.
Daniel Pinero added an infield single with the bases loaded facing reliever Felix Paulino, extending the Lakeland lead to 6-0.
Clearwater broke up the shutout in the fifth inning, after Jose Pujols was hit by a pitch and Jose Gomez walked. Tom de Blok (2-3) got Jose Antequera to ground into a double play, but Gamboa came through with a two-out RBI knock to left to score Pujols.
The Threshers loaded the bases against de Blok with nobody out in the fifth, but dthe right-hander induced a key strikeout of Edgar Cabral, before reliever Alfred Gutierrez secured the final two outs to keep Clearwater off the board.
Clearwater grabbed a second run and brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Gamboa and Listi both reached on infield hits, and Darick Hall pushed an opposite-field double to left to score Gamboa and bring it to 6-2.
Mickey Moniak was hit by a pitch to fill the bases, but reliever Drew Carlton got Cabral to ground out to end the inning.
Clearwater had the bases loaded in three different innings, but went 0-for-6 with the bases full.
Down to their final out, the Threshers gathered one last surge in the ninth.
With Haseley and Moniak both aboard via the walk, Cabral smashed a double to deep left-center to bring both in and cut the deficit to two. Pujols followed with a hard grounder to left-center, scoring Cabral to bring Clearwater to within one. Carlton put a halt to the rally by getting Gomez on a slow grounder to third to end the ballgame and earn his first save.
The Threshers return home to Spectrum Field on Thursday to open a three-game series with the Daytona Tortugas. Mauricio Llovera (2-2) will take the hill against lefty Scott Moss (3-1) beginning at 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on threshersbaseball.com starting at 6:45 p.m.
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