Leitch’s Grand Slam Lifts Threshers to Skid-Snapping Win

WP: Gabriel Cotto (3-0, 2.77)

LP: Alex Amalfi (2-4, 2.63)

BOX SCORE:

CLEARWATER, FL – Ryan Leitch drove in a season-best five runs, including a first-inning grand slam, to help the Clearwater Threshers (43-20) take down the Dunedin Blue Jays (31-33) 10-4 at TD Ballpark on Tuesday night. The Threshers return to Dunedin for the penultimate game of the first half on Wednesday morning.

Emaarion Boyd sent the second pitch of the game by Alex Amalfi up the middle for a leadoff single. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Justin Crawford that made it 1-0. Crawford stole second before Bryan Rincon walked, and Otto Kemp was walked to load the bases. With one out in the first inning, Leitch hit a grand slam to left-center field to put the Threshers ahead 5-0 in the opening frame.

Dunedin bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, and a Tucker Toman RBI double in the second cut the Threshers’ lead to 5-3. The Blue Jays plated a fourth run in the bottom of the fourth on a triple by Robert Robertis to get within one at 5-4.

Boyd started off the fifth with a one-out single off Blue Jays reliever Lazaro Estrada. He moved to third on a hit-and-run single by Crawford, who stole second before Rincon brought the lead back to three with a two-run double.

Felix Reyes walked with one out in the sixth before Jordan Viars sent an 0-2 offering into the gap in left-center to score Reyes and increase the Threshers advantage to 8-4. Rincon led off the ninth by drawing a walk on Dunedin reliever Michael Brewer. William Bergolla walked and Leitch drove in his fifth run of the game with a single off Blue Jays reliever Keiner Leon. On the very next pitch, Reyes blooped a single to right to plate Bergolla and extend the Threshers’ lead to 10-4.

Glenn Santiago led off the bottom of the ninth with a double, but Wen-Hui Pan struck out the next batter and retired the final three batters in order to strand Santiago and seal the 10-4 victory for the Threshers.

Gabriel Cotto (3-0) earned the win in 5.0 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Jonh Henriquez tossed 2.0 shutout frames with one hit and one walk allowed and two strikeouts. Pan shut out the Blue Jays in the final 2.0 frames, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Leitch’s grand slam in the first was the third this season for Clearwater...His five RBIs were the most in a game by the Threshers this season...Crawford extended his hit streak to 11-straight games...That is the longest hit streak by a Thresher in 2023...He also became the second player in the Florida State League to steal 30 bases in the season...Only Boyd (36) has more steals in the Florida State League this year...Pan struck out the side in the eighth...His four strikeouts tied a career-high for the sixth time...The Threshers continue their series on the road in Dunedin against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, June 21st... First pitch is at 11:00 am EST... You can purchase tickets for Threshers games at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.