PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (July 13, 2019) - Ronaldo Hernandez homered and reached base four times, but the Tampa Tarpons ended the Stone Crabs' longest winning streak ever in a 6-4 game at Charlotte Sports Park. Hernandez delivered a 420-foot game-tying homer to left in the first and finished 3-for-3 with
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (July 13, 2019) - Ronaldo Hernandez homered and reached base four times, but the Tampa Tarpons ended the Stone Crabs' longest winning streak ever in a 6-4 game at Charlotte Sports Park.
Hernandez delivered a 420-foot game-tying homer to left in the first and finished 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. The Rays top catching prospect is 9-for-19 in his last five games.
With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the fifth, Tampa (40-51, 12-13) got the bats going in what proved to be the fateful inning. Oswaldo Cabrera led off the frame with a solo home run to right against Charlotte (54-36, 18-5) reliever Alex Valverde (2-4). With one out, Diego Castillo and Wilkerman Garcia notched back-to-back singles. With men at the corners, Steven Sensley cranked a sacrifice fly to right to score Castillo and make it 4-2. After an infield single, Omar Carrizales lined a base hit into right to score Garcia and bring the score to 5-2. Carl Chester then sailed a throw over third baseman Kaleo Johnson that went out of play, allowing Jason Lopez to come across and cap the rally at 6-2 Tampa.
The Stone Crabs added runs in the fifth and eighth on sacrifice flies from Wander Franco and Moises Gomez , but fell two runs short.
Jack Labosky turned in the best pitching performance on a bullpen day for Charlotte, fanning three batters over three hitless innings.
The Stone Crabs' 10-game winning streak was the longest in franchise history, one greater than the nine-game streak they put together from July 2-12 over 2010.
Charlotte will look to win the series on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Stephen Woods Jr. (7-1, 2.05) will make the start for the Stone Crabs. Coverage begins at 12:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
