Rubio’s Round-Tripper Sparks Manatees
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| Elvis Rubio |
For the second straight night, the Brevard County Manatees
used a four-run inning to beat the visiting Clearwater Threshers at Space Coast
Stadium. On Tuesday night it was a four-run fifth and on Wednesday, it was the second inning that
supplied more than enough for the Manatees to post a second consecutive
victory.
“After the win last night to come in and have that big inning, put up
for runs was big,” said Manatees skipper Joe Ayrault. “It’s always a good
feeling to get the lead and put the hammer down.”
The hammer came down quickly on Clearwater starter Ranfi
Casimiro (5-3) in that second frame. Fidel Pena started it with an infield
single and Elvis
Rubio followed with a two-run bomb over the wall in left. Dustin Houle
hit a high chopper and beat the throw to first. Jose Cuas then reached on an
error, before Casimiro got Malik Collymore on strikes for the first out. Johnny
Davis who extended his on-base streak to 31 consecutive games with a first
inning walk, came up in the second and lined a ball back to the mound that
Casimiro knocked down, but was unable to throw Davis out at first, loading the
bases.
A wild pitch by Casimiro got Houle home on a heads-up play,
as he dove head first to give the Manatees a 3-0 lead. “Houle had a real good
break on the ball in the dirt,” said Ayrault. “He’s not a plus-speed guy by any
means but it was a good break and read on his part to score that run.” Angel
Ortega knocked in the final run of the inning on a sharply hit ball to third.
Cuas was going on contact and the throw was never made, giving the home team a
4-0 lead.
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| Angel Ventura |
Clearwater got a run back in the third against Manatees’
starter Angel
Ventura. Cord Sanberg was hit by a pitch to start the inning and came home
on a Scott Kingery double, cutting the lead to three, 4-1. The Manatees
answered in the bottom of the fourth, with one of their own. Collymore doubled
to start things and moved to third on a Davis ground out. Ortega was up next
and swung at a ball in the dirt that got away from the catcher, allowing
Collymore to score the fifth run of the night.
Ventura came back out for the fifth and got the first two
outs, before giving up an infield hit to Carlos Tocci. That was his 90th pitch
of the evening, forcing Ayrault to go to the bullpen with Ventura one out short
of qualifying for the win. He gave up just the one run on four hits, in 4.2
innings of work. He struck out six and didn’t walks anybody, with 54 of his 90
pitches going for strikes.
“He did a real good job and worked out of a
couple jams Ayrault said. “He just fell deep in some counts and his pitch count
was up there. Always try to battle to get those guys through five and get them
the win, but he hit his limit and I had to take him out there. He got the
ground ball, it was just a little infield bleeder.”
Kender Villegas (3-4) came out of the pen and got the third
out on one pitch. His next pitch in the top of the sixth met the sweet part of
Zach Greene’s bat and took a trip over the left field wall, making it a 5-2
ballgame. It was one of only two hits that Villegas allowed in his 3.1 innings
of relief. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter, with 27 of his 36
pitches finding the strike zone. “Villegas always does a great job,” Ayrault
said. “He mixes his pitches well and got guys out.”
Brevard County (16-30) capped the scoring in the bottom of
the sixth. Houle led off with a walk and Cuas followed with a single. A passed
ball moved both runners up and Collymore drew a walk to load the bases. After
Davis struck out, Clearwater reliever Victor Arano uncorked a wild pitch,
allowing Houle to score. Ortega added a sac fly to make it 7-2.
The Manatees
only had seven hits, but they made them count. They also were able to take
advantage of Clearwater’s mistakes, namely the three runs scored via the wild
pitch. “Guys have been good on the bases, taking the extra bags and taking
advantage of miscues,” Ayrault said.
Rubio had the only multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with the
home run. Houle, Cuas and Collymore, the seven, eight and nine guys in the
order had one hit each and Fidel Pena, who hits ahead of Rubio had the other
knock.
For more info: Clearwater
@ Brevard County boxscore
The series against Clearwater wraps up Thursday with Jon
Perrin (0-1, 3.18 ERA) taking the mound for the Manatees, as they look for the
sweep. He will be opposed by Elniery Garcia (3-2, 3.28 ERA). First pitch is
scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/25/16
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