Clearwater’s First Inning Run Stands Alone in Win Over Manatees

Gage Smith

It took three batters for the Clearwater Threshers to score the winning run Thursday, in a 1-0 win over the Brevard County Manatees in front of 1,093 fans at Space Coast Stadium, as the team kicked off Outdoors Weekend.

Clearwater leadoff man Scott Kingery drilled a triple off the right field wall against Manatees starter Jon Perrin. After Perrin struck out Malquin Canelo, Carlos Tocci plated Kingery with a sacrifice fly to left. The Threshers would go on to get two more hits against Perrin the rest of the game. Two of the three were for extra bases.

The Manatees (16-31) had put 13 runs on the board against the Threshers over the previous two nights, but on Thursday, their hot bats were put in the deep freeze by Clearwater starter Elniery Garcia. He pitched six innings, scattering four hits, all of those were singles. Brevard County never had a baserunner get to third. 

“We just couldn’t scratch one across, he’s a good pitcher,” Manatees manager Joe Ayrault said of Garcia. “He’s one of the better starters in the league and he can run it up there pretty good and mixes his pitches well. The two guys that came out of the ‘pen (Ulises Joaquin and Alexis Rivero) are pretty good too.”

With the loss, Perrin falls to 0-2, but he certainly deserved a better result on this night. “It’s tough,” said Ayrault. Just the triple and the sac fly, that’s it.” Perrin went six innings, allowing the one earned run and striking out five and did not walk a batter. Of the 70 pitches he threw, 47 were strikes.

The singles that the Manatees got against Garcia came in the first inning, off the bat of Dustin DeMuth, in the second inning from Jose Cuas. The fourth inning saw Elvis Rubio stroke one to right. 

He would later be picked off first base by Garcia and the final hit came from Angel Ortega. One name conspicuous by his absence on that list is Johnny Davis, who came into the game with a 31 game on-base streak. He reached base on a fielders’ choice in that fifth inning, but the resulting out at second, was not enough to officially keep the streak going. He had one more chance in the eighth inning, but his bunt attempt found the glove of reliever Ulises Joaquin. With that, the streak is over.

Major League rehabber Will Smith made his final appearance with the Manatees on Thursday. 

After pitching the seventh inning Tuesday night, Smith pitched both the seventh and the eighth on Thursday. He dominated those two innings, throwing 10 pitches in the seventh, nine for strikes, to strike out the side. He needed just seven pitches in the eighth to dispatch of the Threshers on a fly out and two ground outs. “He was outstanding,” said Ayrault. “He dominated, it was fun to watch him pitch.” Smith will now move on to Triple-A Colorado Springs to pitch a couple games and will most likely be back in Milwaukee by the first week of June.

In the bottom of the eighth, following a simple 6-3 putout of Manatees’ hitter Angel Ortega, some words were exchanged and the dugouts and bullpens both emptied. The players expended more energy coming out on to the field, because nothing came of it, but it was handled quickly by the umpires and everyone went back to their respective corners. “It was just a miscommunication,” said Ayrault. Guys talking and it escalated fast and diffused quickly, so nothing big. Things got heated and it shouldn’t have, but it was all taken care of.”

Gage Smith pitched the ninth for the Manatees and gave up a double to Kingery, but came back and got the next three outs, giving his team a final chance in the bottom of the ninth.

“Gage is pretty nasty, man," said Ayrault. “Coming from down under and mixing his sinker and slider, it’s outstanding stuff.” Alexis Rivero was able to shut the door on Brevard County in the bottom of the ninth, retiring the side in order and picking up his fourth save of the season. "We had a good series, won two out of three Ayrault said. "Guys are playing well. We just gotta keep it going with the sticks, keep the momentum going and win some ballgames."

For more info: Clearwater @ Brevard County boxscore

Clint Coulter, who had been out of the lineup because of an oblique injury, returned Thursday night and wouldn’t you know that the triple by Kingery would find him, immediately. It would have been three bases, no matter who was out there, but he barely had a chance to settle in. Coulter seemed to be okay swinging the bat, despite going 0-for-4. Hopefully his bat will heat up over the weekend.

The Manatees start a three game series Friday, against the first place Tampa Yankees, who come in a half game up on the Threshers at 29-19. The Yankees will send Vicente Campos (4-2, 3.57) to the mound, against Kodi Medeiros (2-5, 7.01). First pitch, 6:35 p.m.

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/26/16