Sports Lowdown

Mitch Ghelfi The Tampa Yankees took game one of their three-game series at Space Coast Stadium, beating the Brevard County Manatees 9-1 on Tuesday. Yankees starter James Reeves held Brevard County to two hits over his six innings of work, improving his record to 4-1 and lowering his ERA to 1.56. Cody Ponce started for the Manatees and while he’s been very good in his last handful of starts, it was not his night on Tuesday. Couple that with the poor night the Manatees defense had, committing four errors and your left with a forgettable night at the ballpark. Ponce (2-3) got the first two outs in the top of the first, but a misplayed ball by Clint Coulter in right field, led to a three-base error for Tampa newcomer Gleyber Torres, who was the main piece NY got for Aroldis Chapman, earlier this week. Torres later scored on a single by Austin Aune. The tough luck continued for the Manatees in the second inning. First baseman Mitch Ghelfi, who was called up to Brevard Cou...

Dustin DeMuth With a win under their belt in  game one of Saturday’s doubleheader , the Charlotte Stone Crabs went into game two, looking for the sweep. They did just that, with the help of starting pitcher  Benton Moss , who allowed three hits in six-plus innings, earning the home team a 3-2 win at Charlotte Sports Park. Moss (5-7) allowed a leadoff double to  Corey Ray  in the first. After  Blake Allemand  bunted him to third,  Dustin DeMuth  plated him with a sacrifice bunt, putting the Manatees ahead early, 1-0. That lead didn’t last long, as the Stone Crabs got to Manatees starter  Eric Hanhold  (2-12) in the bottom of the frame. Jake Cronenworth  walked to start things and went to third on a single by  Andrew Velazquez , that went off of Allemand’s glove at second. A wild pitch moved Velazquez to second.  Joe McCarthy ’s sac fly eventually Cronenworth home with the tying run.  Grant Kay  foll...

Luis Severino New York Yankees right-hander  Luis Severino  made a rehab start at Space Coast Stadium Sunday, pitching three innings of two-hit baseball and helping the Tampa Yankees  toa 6-4 win  and a series sweep. Severino, who made four starts in the Florida State League back in 2014, was back for an encore performance Sunday and he did not disappoint. A sampling of his fastball included 95, 97, 98 and 99.4. Those were all in the first inning. He consistently kept it in the low-to-mid 90’s throughout his time on the mound.  Severino, who is recovering from a right-triceps strain looked good in his first outing. He is 0-6 with the Yankees so far this season and  reports out of New York  this season are that he has lost command, but he seemed well on his way to regaining it in this outing. Obviously, pitching against Advanced-A talent is much different from facing Major League hitters, but his speeds will not vary much from what he th...

Will Smith Milwaukee Brewers left-handed reliever Will Smith pitched one scoreless inning on Tuesday night, as he began his road back to the Majors with a rehab appearance in Brevard County. Smith is rehabbing a torn LCL that he suffered during spring training while taking off his shoe. Smith pitched the seventh inning of Brevard County’s 6-4 win over the Clearwater Threshers at Space Coast Stadium. “The main thing with a guy like him is his health,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “How do you feel after an outing, getting his feet back going and getting him pitching. It’s great having a guy like him… an experienced big leaguer, all the guys are gonna be watching him and it’s great for our bullpen guys to watch his routine, watching him warm up and what he does pregame. He’s had a lot of success up there, it’s great having him.” Smith did not walk a batter, struck out one and allowed one hit in his outing on Tuesday he threw 15 pitches, nine for strikes to the f...