The Threshers finished their home schedule with a loss to the Tampa Yankees that lowered their home record to 21-51.  With three road games in Lakeland this weekend they can improve on their 25-38 road record.  Tonight, Colin Kleven got the start.  The big righty has been effective this season.  He came into the game with the fourth lowest walks per 9 innings in the FSL with 29 walks in 130.2 innings for a ratio of 2.0 walks per game.

The first batter Kleven faced seemed to set the pattern for his evening.  The lead off batter worked an 8-pitch at bat before lining a double to center field.  Kleven would continue to run deep counts through the first two innings.  At the conclusion of the second inning, he had already thrown 42 pitches to nine batters.  Kleven continued to battle until the Yankees got to him in the sixth inning.  His final line and pitching stats –

• 5.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 7 K
• 28 batters faced, 14 first pitch strikes
• 104 pitches, 63 strikes
• of the 63 strikes – 8 swinging, 17 called, 21 fouls, 17 in play
• of the 17 in play – 7 ground outs, 1 sac bunt, 1 fly out, 8 base hits
• the 8 base hits were – 2B, 2B, HR, 2B, 1B, 1B, Grand Slam, 2B
• Of his 7 strike outs – 6 swinging, 1 called third strike
• 7 three-ball counts resulting in 2B, BB, P6, HR, BB, IBB, BB
• He threw 22 pitches to 5 batters in the first inning.
• He threw 20 pitches to 4 batters in the second inning.
• He threw 40 pitches over the next three innings to 12 batters.
• He threw 22 pitches to 7 batters in one third of an inning in the sixth.
• I charted his velocity through the first 3 innings.  His fastball was 90-92and hit 93 a half-dozen times.
• He left with the score 5-1 and 2 runners on base.

Perci Garner came on and walked the first batter on 4 pitches. A single scored the two runners he inherited and a wild pitch brought in another run.  He did strike out Aaron Judge before walking another batter.  he finally got out of the inning with a ground out, but the Threshers were down 8-1.

After Kleven had given up a solo home run in the fourth inning, the offense had come back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth.  J.P. Crawford started things with a lead off double into the right field corner.  Art Charles brought him home with an RBI single.  Brandon Short and Harold Martinez singled to load the bases with one out but the Threshers were unable to continue the rally.

After the Yankees’ 7-run sixth inning, the Threshers loaded the bases with a Brian Pointer single and two walks.  But with one out they could only manage one run on Herlis Rodriguez’ ground ball fielder’s choice.  And that was their last gasp.

Game notes –

• Roman Quinn went 0-5
• Jesmuel Valentin left the game after grounding out to first in the first inning.
• J.P. Crawford went 1-4 with a double, run scored, and reached first on a wild pitch on a third strike.
• Art Charles was 1-4 with an RBI
• Herlis Rodriguez went 2-4 with a double and an RBI
• One of Kleven’s 4 walks was a bench ordered intentional pass to load the bases.  Coach Milacki came out to talk after the IBB.  Kleven’s next pitch landed in the Tiki Bar in deep left field.
• Jeb Stefan pitched the final two innings and allowed 2 hits.

That’s all.  Hope you enjoyed reading these reports as much as I enjoyed writing them.