Charlotte Stone Crabs fall to Sarasota Reds

The Game: The Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the Sarasota Reds 6-2 on Sunday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. The Reds took a four run lead in the first inning and never looked back. Dave Sappelt singled to center to lead off for the Reds. Sappelt advanced to second on a ground out by Justin Reed and then stole third base. Alex Buchholz followed with a walk to put runners on the corners. Neftali Soto then drove both runners with a double to left. Jason Louwsma cleared the bases with a two run homer to put the Reds ahead 4-0.

The Stone Crabs cut the lead in half in the fifth inning. Henry Wrigley struck a line drive double to center to lead off the inning. Wrigley advanced to third on a wild pitch and later scored on a single by Shawn Williams. Reid Fronk was then hit by a pitch and Omar Luna drew a walk to load the bases. Matt Hall then drove in the second run of the inning with a sac fly to center that scored Williams. The scoring play saw Sarasota manager Joe Ayrault get ejected from the game as he argued the play at the plate. After the argument ended and things calmed down, Drew Anderson drew a walk to reload the bases but they couldn’t push across another run and leave the bases loaded trailing by two, 4-2.

Sarasota posted two more runs to the scoreboard, one in the fifth and another in the sixth to increase their lead. In the fifth, Alex Buchholz double to left and later scored on an RBI double by Neftali Soto. Then in the sixth inning, Kyle Day homered to right, giving the Reds the 6-2 margin of victory.

Brian Flores suffered the loss, being tagged for 5 runs off 8 hits in 5 innings of work while allowing 2 walks. Jose Mejias pitched 2 innings in relief and allowed 1 run on 1 hit while striking out and walking 1. Angel Castro pitched the final frame, going three up and three down to end the game. Curtis Partch picked up the win for Sarasota.

What Went Right: Angel Castro; rebounded from his last two rough outing by recording a perfect inning to close out the game.

What Went Wrong: Brian Flores; hit for 5 runs on 8 hits enroute to his sixth loss of the season.

A Look Ahead: The Stone Crabs are off on Monday before heading to Jupiter to begin a four game series against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday at Roger Dean Stadium.