Late Run Leaves Manatees and Marauders Tied

Elvis Rubio

Ties don’t happen often in baseball, but Thursday night the Brevard County Manatees and Bradenton Marauders did just that in a rain-shortened game in front of 1,265 fans at Space Coast Stadium. After tying the game in the bottom of the eighth, the Manatees’ Elvis Rubio singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth and was on base as the rains came at 8:51 p.m. 30 minutes later, the game was suspended, tied at one.

Brevard County starter Angel Ventura allowed just two hits in the game and on any other night, that might have been enough. Unfortunately, one of the two hits he allowed was a solo home run to Kevin Newman, leading off the fourth inning. Newman gave it a ride to left field, where Brandon Diaz made an effort on it, but ran out of room and ran hard into the unforgiving wall.

Bradenton managed three hits in total, but threatened again in the seventh. Ventura got the first out in the inning before giving up a double to Jordan Luplow. He was pulled at that point, giving way to 

Junior Rincon. Jerrick Suiter greeted him with a single to center that dropped in front of Johnny Davis. Davis went to the ground, kept the ball in front of him and came up throwing to the plate. The throw was a good one and catcher Dustin Houle was waiting for Luplow at the plate and put the tag down. That play closed the book on Ventura, who went 6.1 innings, giving up the one earned run, walking one and striking out five. He threw 86 pitches, 52 for strikes.

Ventura was certainly on his game, as was Bradenton starter Alex McRae. He allowed a hit to Angel Ortega in the first inning and one to Davis in the third. Davis’ hit was of the familiar infield variety and extended his on-base streak to 25 games. Davis had another great game, going 3-for-4 and scored the Manatees only run in the eighth. 

McRae pitched six shutout innings and allowed four hits, walked none and struck out three. He threw 85 pitches, 59 for strikes. Henry Hirsch pitched the seventh and gave up a walk to Houle and a Rubio single. Those were sandwiched between Hirsch striking out the side.

Brevard County finally got on the board in the bottom of the eighth, playing small ball against Marauders’ reliever Miguel Rosario. Davis led off with a single and went to second when Ortega dropped down a great bunt. Rosario fielded it and threw wide to first. Davis alertly moved to third on the error. 

Dustin DeMuth

Dustin DeMuth was up next and he rifled a ball to Newman at short, that he made a great play on. The play definitely saved a hit and therefore, took away what would have been the decisive run. Fidel Pena dropped a sacrifice bunt down, scoring Davis. No one was covering first base and Pena was safe. Houle came up with the table set for a big inning and he hit one to short, that the Marauders turned into an inning-ending double play.

The DeMuth out, along with the double play, were a microcosm of the Manatees luck on this night. They hit some balls hard, but the Marauders defense made the plays they needed to make. Brevard County had their fair share of nice plays too, including a couple by Pena at second that were fun to watch. Each team had chances throughout the night and the opponent was unwilling to give in.

For more info: Bradenton @ Brevard County boxscore

Roster move: Omar Garcia was promoted to Double-A Biloxi on Thursday. Malik Collymore arrived in Brevard County just prior to the game, taking Garcia's roster spot. Collymore was active for the game, but did not see action. The Manatees will now head to Jupiter for a four-game series with the Hammerheads, beginning Friday.

Kodi Medeiros (2-4, 6.00 ERA), who left his start last Sunday early, dealing with back spasms, is scheduled to pitch for the Manatees. He will be opposed by Dillon Peters (3-2, 2.39 ERA). Peters will throw the first pitch at 6:30 p.m. Bradenton returns home to take on the Dunedin Blue Jays in a four-game series.

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/19/16