Manatees Comeback Thwarted by Bradenton Homer

Jon Perrin

The Bradenton Marauders needed a home run in the top of the ninth to beat the Brevard County Manatees, 7-5 on Monday in the lid lifter of a four-game series at Space Coast Stadium.

Manatees’ starter Jon Perrin worked just four-plus innings, but deserves a lot of credit for gutting it out after taking a line drive off his non-throwing shoulder in the top of the second. He took a couple warm-up tosses and was good to go, but had a couple other close calls on the mound, as he seemed to be a magnet for the ball on Monday.

“Good thing it was his left arm, he was able to tough it out and stay in there,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault of the ball that Perrin got hit by. “He said he felt alright, but if that was his right arm he would’ve been out of the ballgame. He did a good job battling in his second start.”

The Manatees (13-25) got on the board in the third inning. Johnny Davis bunted for a single with two outs and reached, extending his on-base streak to 22 games. Angel Ortega hit one between first and second and Davis had to jump over the ball, as it rolled into right field. That put runners at the corners. Bradenton starter Jose Regalado then attempted to pick Ortega off at third, but his throw went wide and Davis came home with the first run of the night.

“He did a good job, he’s battling up there,” said Ayrault of Davis. “He’s got good hand-eye coordination, able to put the ball in pay and utilize his wheels. He’s playing excellent defense too; he’s saved us a lot of runs.”

Perrin ran into some trouble in the third, but made a nice play on a bunt back to the mound, throwing to third to get the force out. That was a big reason the Marauders were held off the board in that inning. In the fourth, he loaded the bases twice and held them to just two runs. The first run came home on a bases loaded wild pitch and the second run scored on a sac fly by leadoff hitter Kevin Newman.

Bradenton added two more in the fifth inning, getting a leadoff single by Jerrick Suiter and an RBI triple off the bat of Taylor Gushue. That was the end of the night for Perrin, who gave way to Zach Hirsch. He was able to get the next batter out before giving up an RBI ground out to Elvis Escobar. That run was charged to Perrin and extended the Bradenton lead to 4-1. Perrin gave up four runs on six hits in his four-plus innings. He walked four and struck out three, throwing 85 pitches (53 strikes).

Hirsch did a good job in relief, pitching three innings of hitless baseball and keeping the Marauders off the board, giving his team a chance to come back. He walked one and struck out two, throwing 40 pitches, 23 for strikes.

Bradenton (19-18) would tack on one more in the top of the eighth against Kaleb Earls, who gave up a single, walked two and threw a wild pitch. All that led to a sac fly by Kramer and a 5-1 lead for the visitors. Bradenton reliever Junior Lopez (1-2) had a disastrous bottom of the eighth, giving all the runs back his team had earned.

The inning started with three consecutive singles by Davis, Ortega and Dustin DeMuth. DeMuth’s single scored Davis all the way from second and Ortega replaced him at second. One out later, Dustin Houle plated Ortega with his single and went to second, as the throw came in to third, trying to nail DeMuth. The throw beat him, but the ball was dropped. 

Taylor Brennan’s RBI single made it a 5-4 game, as DeMuth scored. Elvis Rubio, who came in to pinch-run for Houle, went to third.

Jose Cuas came up and dropped a perfect bunt down, forcing Lopez to field it. His only play was home, but Rubio slid in ahead of the tag and the game was tied at five. With runners at first and second, Lopez uncorked a wild pitch, putting both runners in scoring position. Omar Garcia came up with a chance to give the Manatees the lead, but he flew out to left, ending the inning.

“Guys showed a lot of heart tonight, getting back in there, down 5-1,” Ayrault said. “Guys did a good job taking the extra base when we could and they came up with some big hits in there. Guys did a great job getting us back in the ballgame.”

Unfortunately, all that work would go for naught in the top of the ninth. Josh Uhen came out of the Manatees ‘pen and was joined by new battery mate Gregory McCall, who replaced Houle. Uhen did well, getting the first two batters, before giving up a double to Connor Joe. That brought Escobar to the plate and Elvis left the building in a hurry, putting a charge into one that flew high and deep into the night sky and gave the Marauders a 7-5 lead. Colten Brewer came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth and allowed the tying run to come to the plate after walking DeMuth, but Fidel Pena hit one back to the mound and with that, Bradenton escaped with the victory.

For more info: Bradenton @ Brevard County boxscore

Of the 10 hits the Manatees had Monday night, the top of the order had nine of them. Davis, Ortega and DeMuth had two each, Pena had one and Houle had two. Brennan had the other. Connor Joe was the only Bradenton hitter with a multi-hit game, he went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. One of those being the winning run.

Injury updates: Some seemingly good news on the injury front from this past weekend.  George Iskenderian who was hurt on Saturday, in Dunedin. “Just a little tweaked hamstring,” said Ayrault. “We’re keeping an eye on it, see how he is.  Hopefully get him back in there, get him back healthy.”

Kodi Medeiros, whowas pulled after two innings on Sunday. “He just came out with some back tightness,” Ayrault said. He should be alright, but we’ll keep an eye on that too. It was hot over there in Dunedin, could be anything. Sleeping, the bed or whatever. Just lower back tightness.” Ayrault said it was not related to the play he made at first in the previous inning.

Game two of this series is scheduled for Tuesday at Space Coast Stadium. Yeudy Garcia (0-3, 3.29 ERA) gets the start for the Marauders. He will be opposed by Bubba Derby (3-1, 3.58). First pitch, 6:35 p.m.

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