Late-Inning Heroics Lead Threshers to Victory

WP: Jonh Henriquez (5-0, 3.18 ERA)

LP: Ryan Jennings (0-2, 4.58 ERA

SV: Jack Dallas (2)

BOX SCORE:

DUNEDIN, FL – Justin Crawford led off two of the final three innings with a single, scoring two key runs to help the Clearwater Threshers (24-8) come back to beat the Dunedin Blue Jays (17-15) 8-3 on Saturday night at TD Ballpark. The Threshers go for the series victory in Dunedin on Sunday afternoon.

With two outs in the first inning, Otto Kemp took the first pitch he saw from Blue Jays starter CJ Van Eyk deep out to center field for a solo home run that put the Threshers ahead 1-0 in the opening frame. Peyton Williams hit a solo home run of his own in the second to tie the game up at one.

Tucker Toman led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run that gave Dunedin their first lead of the day at 2-1. Crawford hit an infield single on the first pitch of the seventh off Blue Jays reliever Ryan Jennings. He stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Dunedin catcher Nic Deschamps. Jordan Viars doubled to left center to plate Crawford and tie the game at two.

Emaarion Boyd pinch ran for Viars on second base, advancing to third on back-to-back walks to Chad Castillo and Cade Fergus to load the bases. Bryan Rincon fought off three two-strike pitches and walked in the go-ahead run to give the Threshers a 3-2 lead. With the bases still loaded, Freylin Minyety drove in two more on a single to left to extend the advantage to 5-2.

Crawford led off the eighth with a single off Blue Jays reliever Harry Rutkowski and stole both second and third. The throw to third by Deschamps sailed into left field, allowing Crawford to score and move the lead up to 6-2. Kemp singled and stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout by Boyd. For the second-straight inning, Castillo and Fergus walked to load the bases and Rincon walked in another run to make it 7-2. Minyety reached on a fielding error by Abiezel Ramirez to score Catillo and give the Threshers a six-run lead.

Dunedin plated one run in the ninth, and the Threshers held on to win their second-straight game with an 8-3 victory.

Estibenzon Jiménez allowed two runs on three hits in 4.0 innings with six strikeouts in a no-decision. Jonh Henriquez (5-0) earned the win in 2.0 scoreless and hitless innings with one walk and one strikeout. Jack Dallas completed the final 3.0 innings, allowing one run on one hit with three walks and five strikeouts to earn the save.

Dallas set a career-high with five strikeouts... Henriquez is now tied for the league lead with five wins... Kemp has hit safely in all four games he has played this series... His on-base streak improved to 22 straight games... He has hit leadoff home runs in each of his last three games... Crawford moved to third in the league with 15 stolen bases after tying a career-high with three stolen bases... Clearwater won all three games this series by five or more runs... The Threshers return to Dunedin to face the Blue Jays (Single-A, Toronto Blue Jays) on Sunday, May 14th … First pitch is at 12:00 PM... You can purchase tickets for the Threshers season at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.