Four Home Runs Power Threshers to Victory 

WP: Casey Steward (3-1, 1.03)

LP: Josh Grosz (1-3, 6.66)

BOX SCORE

TAMPA, FL – Raylin Heredia’s second home run of the season was one of four long balls for the Clearwater Threshers (21-11) in a 9-4 victory over the Tampa Tarpons (10-22) on Saturday afternoon at Steinbrenner Field. The Threshers go for their fifth series win of the season when they return to Tampa in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.

On the third pitch of the fourth inning, Kehden Hettiger hit a pitch from Tarpons hurler Josh Grosz off the right-centerfield wall. He made it all around the bases on an inside-the-park home run that was ruled an error on Tarpons right fielder Willy Montero to score the game's first run. Jordan Viars drew a walk with two outs and moved to second on an infield single by Devin Saltiban. On a 0-2 count, Jared Thomas hit a home run to right field to extend the Threshers lead to 4-0.

Tampa added their first run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1 Threshers. On the first pitch of the fifth inning, Heredia hit a solo home run to left that brought the Threshers lead back up to four. The Tarpons got one back in the home half of the fifth after a wild pitch made it 5-2.

Saltiban hit a ground-rule double to force the Tarpons to pull Josh Grosz from the game in the top of the sixth. After Saltiban moved to third on a groundout, Bryson Ware sent the first pitch of his first at-bat against Cade Austin out to left for an RBI single that gave the Threshers a 6-2 lead.

The Tarpons scratched together a run in the sixth to cut their deficit to three runs. Hettiger led off the seventh inning with a walk and moved to second after Aidan Miller was hit by a pitch. After a double play brought two outs in the inning and moved Hettiger to third, Viars launched a 1-1 pitch over the right field wall for a two-run homer that increased the Threshers lead to 8-3.

Two singles and an RBI groundout brought the Threshers lead back down to four as the Tarpons added another in the home half of the seventh, bringing the score down to 8-4. Miller led off the ninth with a solo home run off Tarpons reliever Kris Bow to bring the advantage back to five. Tampa loaded the bases in the ninth but couldn’t get a run across, as the Threshers sealed a 9-4 win.

Casey Steward (3-1) allowed two runs on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts to earn the win. Josh Bortka allowed one run on two hits with one walk in 1.0 inning. Jonathan Petit allowed one run on three hits in 2.0 innings of work. Saul Teran allowed two hits and walked one but struck out the final two batters in a scoreless ninth.

Miller becomes the third Thresher with an on-base streak of ten games or more...The Four home runs hit by Threshers was their most in a game this season...Ware set a career-high with his first three-hit game...Teran didn’t factor into the decision for the first time in seven appearances for the Threshers this season (1-0, 5/5 SV) ...Thomas’ three-run homer in the second was his first professional home run...The Threshers conclude a six-game series against the Tampa Tarpons on Sunday, May 12...First pitch will be at 12:00 PM at Steinbrenner Field...You can purchase tickets for the Threshers season at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457…The Box Office at BayCare Ballpark is also open daily to purchase Threshers tickets…The hours are 10 AM-5 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM-3 PM on Saturdays.