BRADENTON, Fla. (June 2, 2018) - Tristan Gray went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI in his return to Bradenton, but the Marauders walked off on the Charlotte Stone Crabs 7-6 Saturday night at LECOM Park.Gray was traded from Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay in February, and tied the
BRADENTON, Fla. (June 2, 2018) - Tristan Gray went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI in his return to Bradenton, but the Marauders walked off on the Charlotte Stone Crabs 7-6 Saturday night at LECOM Park.
Gray was traded from Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay in February, and tied the game with a three-run home run in the sixth inning in his first game back in Bradenton, the Pirates' Spring Training home.
The Marauders (28-22) entered the bottom of the ninth in a 6-6 game before Jung Ho Kang singled to right to the lead off the inning. After an out and a walk moved runners to first and second with one out, Hunter Owen skied a deep fly ball to center. The ball cleared a hustling Josh Lowe's glove, allowing the winning run to come home and give Bradenton a 7-6 win.
The Stone Crabs got the scoring going right away in the top of the first, when Peter Maris homered to deep right against Marauders starter James Marvel.
From there, Marvel put up four straight zeroes, matching Charlotte (24-27) starter Willy Ortiz .
After Bradenton got a home run from Casey Hughston in the third to tie the game, Kang gave the Marauders a 5-1 lead on a grand slam in the fifth. Owen's solo shot then knocked Ortiz out of the game after 4.2 innings.
Down 6-1 in the top of the sixth, Jesús Sánchez and Josh Lowe both singled to put runners at the corners. Zac Law then flew out to deep left, chasing home Sanchez to make it 6-2. After a stolen base and a walk, David Olmedo-Barrera stroked a ground rule double to right, scoring Lowe to make it 6-3. The next batter was Gray, who launched a three-run homer to right to tie the game at six.
Charlotte will look to salvage the series finale against the Marauders Sunday at 1 p.m. Kenny Rosenberg (3-1, 5.02) is scheduled to pitch against Oddy Nunez (1-3, 3.81) of Bradenton. Coverage begins at 12:45 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
