CLEARWATER, Fla. (July 26, 2019) - Moises Gomez homered for the second straight night, but the Clearwater Threshers came back to beat the Charlotte Stone Crabs 6-5 at Spectrum Field Friday. Gomez delivered a solo shot that cleared the grass berm in deep left center to extend the Charlotte (62-41,
CLEARWATER, Fla. (July 26, 2019) - Moises Gomez homered for the second straight night, but the Clearwater Threshers came back to beat the Charlotte Stone Crabs 6-5 at Spectrum Field Friday.
Gomez delivered a solo shot that cleared the grass berm in deep left center to extend the Charlotte (62-41, 27-10) lead to 4-2 in the top of the sixth. Friday's blast was the second homer in as many days for Gomez, who is now three home runs away from the Stone Crabs' single-season record.
With the Stone Crabs up by two in the bottom of the sixth, Charlotte reliever Mike Franco hit a batter and walked Simon Muzziotti to put two men on. After the runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, Nick Maton dumped a two-run single to right to tie the game 4-4.
In a tie game in the top of the seventh, Michael Smith singled to start the inning. After he stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error, Smith raced home on a wild pitch to give the Stone Crabs a 5-4 lead.
With Charlotte up a run in the bottom of the eighth, Jhailyn Ortiz smacked a double against Stone Crabs reliever Chandler Raiden (4-3). After Maton singled Ortiz to third, Madison Stokes shot a grounder through shortstop to tie the game 5-5. The next batter was Matt Vierling, who lined a base hit to left to give Clearwater a 6-5 lead.
The Stone Crabs scored three runs early against Clearwater (54-50, 18-20) starter Andrew Brown. Charlotte scored two runs in the first on base hits from Wander Franco and Kaleo Johnson . They added a run in the third on a Smith squeeze bunt.
The Stone Crabs will look to bounce back at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Shane McClanahan (6-1, 0.94) is set to pitch for Charlotte, against James McArthur (0-0, 10.13) of Clearwater. Coverage starts at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
