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Charlotte Stone Crabs

Pruitt Wins Fourth Straight to Snap 'Crabs Skid

July 22, 2014 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


CLEARWATER, FL (July 22, 2014) - It seemed like everything was falling apart simultaneously for Austin Pruitt in the bottom of the fifth on Tuesday night. In the blink of an eye, an Art Charles homer that was lost in the night sky and the lights cleared the fence to tie the game at four. Gone was the 4-0 lead, gone too were the 16 and two thirds scoreless innings streak as well as the 40 and two thirds without surrendering a homer. The funny thing is, July has been Pruitt's month, and he won his fourth straight start once Tyler Goeddel and Ariel Soriano combined to bring in three runs in the sixth on the way to a 7-5 victory before 4,758 at Bright House Field.

Clearwater's Jeb Stefan found himself in hot water in the first following walks to the newly formed duo of Johnny Field and Tommy Coyle atop the order. Leonardo Reginatto then snuck a hard double off the glove of left fielder Angelo Mora at the warning track to extend his hitting streak to 11 straight and make it 1-0. Patrick Leonard's Baltimore chopper to third scored Coyle for a 2-0 advantage before Maxx Tissenbaum sent a deep fly ball to center for Reginatto to tag up and give Charlotte a 3-0 lead.

Charles' first chance to make an imprint came with runners at the corners yet again and two outs in the third, but Pruitt fooled him for his second strikeout. Leonard soon made it 4-0 in the third once he ripped a 2-0 fastball from Stefan over the wall in left for his 13th homer and second run batted in of the night. That score would hold until the fifth, when it seemed like the Threshers had seized all the momentum back by tying the score.

A Mora single and an Anthony Phillips fielder's choice groundout brought up Roman Quinn, who swung through an 0-2 pitch for the second out. J.P. Crawford's battle resulted with a single on a 2-2 pitch that made it possible for Carlos Ruiz to cut the deficit in half with a two-run double to left center. On the verge of getting out of the inning, Pruitt's (7-4) 3-2 to Charles was slugged high in the air to right, looking momentarily as if it would find Soriano. Lost in the lights, the ball kept carrying deep over the wall to tie the score and reawaken the crowd on Charles' 10th home run of the year.

Stefan (6-9) returned for the sixth but singles by Leonard and Tissenbaum put runners in scoring position for Goeddel. Following a pitching change, the Stone Crabs third baseman carried his hitting streak to 11 straight with a hard triple to right center on the very first pitch from Ethan Stewart. With two runs in and a 6-4 lead, Soriano knocked a 3-1 pitch into left center that made it 7-4.

Ryan Garton's three innings of relief out of the `Crabs bullpen reached a tense point in his first inning in the sixth when he loaded the bases with one out. Crawford's sacrifice fly to center got the Threshers back within two at 7-5, but Garton would retire seven of the next hitters he'd face to send it to the ninth. Granden Goetzman finished 2-for-4 at the bottom of the order, but his one out single in the sixth signaled the final baserunner of the night for Charlotte. Facing the organization that drafted him, Zach Cooper earned his first save once he got Brian Pointer to ground out following a two out broken bat single by Charles.

The final game of the series is Wednesday afternoon at 12:00 PM when Blake Snell (2-5, 4.65 ERA) duels against Colin Kleven (3-8, 4.93 ERA). You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 11:40 AM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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