Cabrera's Gem Sparks Shutout and 5-0 Win

WP: Jean Cabrera (1-0, 0.00)

LP: Carlos Marcano (0-1, 16.20)

BOX SCORE:

LAKELAND, FL – A dominant pitching outing secured a series opening win for the Clearwater Threshers (79-50, 1-0), as they shut out the Lakeland Flying Tigers (70-61, 0-1) 5-0 in game one of the Division Series on Tuesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Threshers return home to Clearwater on Thursday night to try and secure the series victory.

Zach Arnold ripped a single to left on the second pitch of the second inning off Lakeland starter Carlos Marcano. He moved to second on a single by Raylin Heredia and scored on an RBI base hit from Jordan Dissin. The next two Threshers added RBI singles as well, with back-to-back knocks from Ricardo Rosario and Troy Schreffler extending the Threshers’ advantage to 3-0.

Rosario reached on a two-out single off Lakeland reliever Chris Williams Jr. In the fourth. He stole second base and scored on an RBI base hit by Schreffler to bring the score up to 4-0. William Bergolla started off the eighth with a fly ball to right, but a missed catch error by Jose De La Cruz allowed him to go to second. He scored from second on an RBI single by Chad Castillo off Lakeland reliever Cam Brown to extend the lead to 5-0.

A dominant bullpen effort completed the shutout, as the Threshers took the opening game of the postseason with a 5-0 win.

Jean Cabrera (1-0) tossed 6.1 shutout innings with one hit and two walks allowed and five strikeouts to earn the win. Nathan Karaffa allowed one hit and one strikeout in 0.2 innings of relief. Erich Uelman retired all three batters he faced with one strikeout in a scoreless and hitless eighth inning. Hans Crouse struck out one and allowed one hit to finish the game with a scoreless ninth.

Cabrera pitched a career-high 6.1 shutout innings...Dissin hit the second triple of his career in the ninth...It was the only extra-base hit in the game...The bottom four of the Threshers order each recorded two hits...Every pitcher for the Threshers struck out at least one batter...Counting the regular season, Heredia has two or more hits in five-straight games...The Threshers return home for game two of the Florida State League Division Series against the Lakeland Flying Tigers... First pitch will be at 6:30 pm on Thursday, September 14...You can purchase playoff tickets at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.