Late Comeback Falls Short for Marauders in 6-5 Loss

BRADENTON – The Bradenton Marauders, Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, mounted a late comeback Sunday but fell a run short, 6-5 to the Lakeland Flying Tigers at McKechnie Field.

Down 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Bradenton rallied for three runs off Lakeland’s closer Kenny Faulk.  With one out David Rubinstein singled up the left side.  Bengie Gonzalez then battled through a ten pitch at-bat and walked in front of a Kelson Brown single.  Rubinstein came in to score on the Brown hit after centerfielder Daniel Fields overran the ball.  Faulk was lifted from the game following a strikeout of Robbie Grossman.

With the closer out of the game, Lakeland manager Dave Huppert turned to Matt Little, who allowed three runs yesterday.  The righty served up a double to Adalberto Santos, the first batter he faced.  Two runs came in on the hit and the Marauders were within one at 6-5.  Elevys Gonzalez struck out, however, to end the game in the following at-bat.

All the damage Lakeland needed came in the second inning off starter Brian Leach.  Sending 10 batters to the plate, the Flying Tigers scored six times on six hits including a homerun from Corey Jones, his second of the series and seventh of the year.  Lakeland led 6-0.

Bradenton chipped away with a run in each the third and fourth.  Aaron Baker was the responsible party in the fourth inning, sending his 12th homerun of the year over the right field fence for a 6-2 score.

The loss is charged to Leach while Michael Morrison is credited with the win in relief.  Lakeland starter Shawn Teufel only threw four innings, allowing two runs.  The Marauders bullpen was especially strong, combining to go seven innings and allowing only four hits in shutout baseball.  Duke Welker went three hitless frames.

The Marauders and Flying Tigers close their series Monday at McKechnie Field at 7pm.  Radio coverage begins at 6:45 on 1280-AM WTMY.  For more information go online to BradentonMarauders.com.