PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (June 23, 2019) - Tommy Romero struck out a season-high nine batters Sunday, pitching the Charlotte Stone Crabs to a 7-3 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Charlotte Sports Park.Romero (5-2) allowed just three hits over 5.1 scoreless innings, lowering his season ERA to 2.01.Romero pitched
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (June 23, 2019) - Tommy Romero struck out a season-high nine batters Sunday, pitching the Charlotte Stone Crabs to a 7-3 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Charlotte Sports Park.
Romero (5-2) allowed just three hits over 5.1 scoreless innings, lowering his season ERA to 2.01.
Romero pitched in back of Tampa Bay Rays rehabber Anthony Banda , who retired all five batters he faced. Sunday was Banda's first official outing since undergoing Tommy John surgery on June 14, 2018.
The Stone Crabs didn't waste any time getting on the board against Lakeland starter Tom de Blok (0-5). Vidal Brujan led off the first inning with a single to right, advancing to second on a fielding error. After Brujan stole third, Ronaldo Hernandez flew out to deep center to score Brujan and make it 1-0.
Still leading by one in the bottom of the fifth, Brujan launched an opposite field double to left. After Thomas Milone bunted him to third, Kaleo Johnson ripped an RBI single to left to extend the Charlotte lead to 2-0.
Up by the same margin in the sixth, Garrett Whitley pulled a double into the left field corner to start the inning. After Michael Smith bunted him to third, Jake Palomaki lined a single by the shortstop to score Whitley and make it 3-0.
Charlotte then broke through for their first big inning against Tigers right-hander Dane Myers in the seventh. After a Milone infield single and hit-by-pitch put runners at first and second, Johnson delivered another RBI single to make it 4-0. Two batters later, Whitley dumped a single into right to load the bases. That set the stage for Smith, who shot a two-run double down the left field line to extend the Crabs' advantage to 6-0. The next batter was Zach Rutherford, who capped the Charlotte day with a sacrifice fly to right.
After an off day Monday, the Stone Crabs will return to Charlotte Sports Park at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Michael Plassmeyer (2-2, 3.29) is scheduled to pitch for Charlotte, against Jhoan Duran (1-6, 3.15) of the Fort Myers Miracle. Coverage of the game begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
