Early Outburst Leads Tampa over Manatees
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| Rashad Crawford |
The Tampa Yankees put a
five-spot up in the top of the first inning and went on to beat the Brevard
County Manatees 8-3 on Sunday, completing the weekend sweep.
Cody Ponce started for
Brevard County and things did not go well right from the get go. He hit Jorge
Mateo leading off the game. Mateo stole second and took third after catcher
Mitch Ghelfi threw the ball into center field. Ponce then committed an error on
a ball hit by Thairo Estrada. Mateo came home and Estrada went to second.
Gleyber Torres followed with an RBI single, making it 2-0.
Zack Zehner walked one
out later and Rashad Crawford, who had two hits on Saturday,
muscled up and hit one over the right field wall, giving the Yankees a 5-0
lead. Kevin Cornelius and Jeff Hendrix hit back-to-back singles, before Ponce
got the final two outs.
Ponce threw 36 pitches in
that first inning and did come out for the second inning, but after one pitch
to Estrada, he was pulled from the game. Clint Terry was called on to take over
for Ponce. He pitched 1+ innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on four
hits. He walked one, struck out one and gave up the home run.
Word from Manatees public
relations after the game, according to manager Joe Ayrault, there was no
specific issue with Ponce, just a bad outing.
Terry got the first out
in the third inning, but gave up a double to Cornelius, walked Hendrix and gave
up an RBI ground-rule double to Wes Wilson, making it 6-0. Estrada’s high
chopper to third, was good enough for a hit and an RBI, giving Tampa a 7-0
lead.
Brevard County got on the
board in the third against Tampa starter Josh Rogers. thanks to back-to-back
doubles from Malik Collymore and Brandon Diaz.
Mitch Ghelfi, who has
been swinging a hot stick and drawn the praise of Ayrault over the last couple
nights, singled home Diaz to make it 7-2. A wild pitch got Ghelfi to second and
Elvis Rubio roped a ball to center, but Hendrix robbed him of a hit and an RBI
with a sliding catch, ending the frame.
Corey Ray singled in the
fifth with one out and went to second on a wild pick-off throw. He went to
third on a ground out, but Allemand struck out, ending the inning. Rogers was
done after six for Tampa. He allowed two runs on six hits and had six
strikeouts. He did not walk a batter, throwing 76 pitches (55 strikes).
Jon Olczak took over for
Terry in the top of the seventh. All things considered, Terry did a nice job,
giving up two runs on five hits in five innings. He walked one, struck
out four and threw 65 pitches (43 strikes).
The Manatees (14-43,
37-88) scored in the bottom of the seventh, against Yankees’ reliever Eduardo
Rivera. Wendell Rijo led off with a double and two outs later, Corey Ray’s single
to center made it a 7-3 game. Tampa added a run in the ninth on an RBI single
by Crawford. He finished the night 2-for-5 with four RBIs.
Wendell Rijo led the way
for the Manatees at the plate, going 3-for-4, while Ray went 2-for-4.
After on off-day on
Monday, the Manatees embark on their final road trip of the season on Tuesday.
They start a three-game set against Clearwater at 7:00 p.m. Devin Williams is
scheduled to get the start for Brevard County, who will be looking to snap
a 12-game losing streak.
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