Late Home Runs Cost Threshers in Series-Opener 

WP: Hunter Furtado (1-1, 6.00)

LP: Jonh Henriquez (0-1, 2.25)

SV: Landon Tomkins (7)

BOX SCORE

BRADENTON, FL – The Clearwater Threshers (34-18) tied the game as soon as the Bradenton Marauders (22-30) took their first lead in the sixth, but a pair of late home runs proved costly in a 6-4 Threshers loss on Tuesday night at LECOM Park. The Threshers return to Bradenton to try and snap their losing streak on Wednesday evening.

Jordan Viars led off the second inning with a base hit off Bradenton’s starter Hung-Leng Chang. He moved to second on a walk drawn by Kehden Hettiger. Nikau Pouaka-Grego drove in the game’s first run with a one-out single to right, plating Viars from second and moving Hettiger to third. Three pitches later, Raylin Heredia sent a pitch out to deep right that scored Hettiger on a sacrifice fly and gave the Threshers a 2-0 lead.

Bradenton halved the Threshers lead on a two-out RBI in the bottom of the fourth to cut the score down to 2-1. They added three more runs in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. Aidan Miller beat out an infield single with one out in the sixth, and he was promptly driven home by Devin Saltiban, who tripled to left to put the Threshers ahead by one. A passed ball by Bradenton catcher Omar Alfonzo allowed Saltiban to come home from third, tying the game at four.

The Marauders got a run back in the home half of the sixth, legging out an inside-the-park home run to retake the lead at 5-4. Another home run in the eighth put the Marauders up by two heading into the ninth. All three Threshers struck out in the ninth to seal a 6-4 loss at the hands of the Marauders.

Casey Steward allowed four runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in 5.0 innings for a no-decision. Jonh Henriquez (0-1) allowed one run on two hits in 2.0 innings with one strikeout to take the loss. Saul Teran allowed one run on one hit with one strikeout in 1.0 inning.

Steward tied a career-high with seven strikeouts for the second-straight week...Clearwater is now tied with Lakeland for first in the FSL West...Viars has recorded three multi-hit games in the past week...Saltiban’s RBI triple in the sixth was the first of his career...Caicuto pinch hit for Thomas in the eighth...The Threshers continue a six-game road series against the Bradenton Marauders on Wednesday, June fifth...First pitch will be at 6:30 PM at LECOM Park...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.