THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers play a three-game series against the Clearwater Threshers beginning Saturday night at 6:30 at Bright House Field before returning to Lakeland for games Sunday at 1 pm and Monday at 6:30 pm. The Flying Tigers had won the first seven games in this season series before the Threshers took the last meeting 3-0.
THE FLYING TIGERS (43-26, 1-1 2nd Half: T-1st, 0.0 GB) ... Lakeland finds itself in a six-way tie for first in the North Division after every ball club in the Division that won on Thursday, lost on Friday night to leave all six teams at 1-1. The Flying Tigers are looking to find their groove again that saw them win eight straight from May 25-June 2. Since then, the club is 6-6. Lakeland batters have struck out 46 times the last four games and have hit double figures in whiffs six times in the last 11 games. However, in five of those games with 10 or more strikeouts, they also had 10 or more hits. The Flying Tigers staff ERA of 2.95 is third lowest in the FSL while .257 team batting average is fourth best in the league.
THE THRESHERS (18-52, 1-1 2nd Half: T-1st, 0.0 GB) ... Clearwater downed Dunedin 6-5 last night to claim its sixth win in the last nine games. Three of those six wins were shutouts, including a 3-0 blanking of Lakeland in the two teams’ last meeting on June 17. Ethan Stewart is tied with Lakeland’s Kevin Eichhorn with 79.1 innings pitched, but has walked 49 batters—the most of any FSL pitcher. Colin Kleven has walked just 1.56 batters per nine innings which is tied for third best in the league while reliever Lee Ridenhour has issued 1.83 free passes per nine frames, which is fifth best among league relievers. The Threshers are last in the league in hitting (.225) and ERA (4.79), however, the team is hitting .244 and has a 4.46 ERA in the month of June.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/21 - RHP Jake Thompson (6-2, 2.48 ERA) ... Thompson last pitched on June 14 at the FSL All-Star game working a scoreless 2nd inning, striking out three and giving up a pair of hits. Thompson had his worst outing of the season in his regular season last start on June 9 at Dunedin, giving up six runs on six hits in just 1.2 innings. The six earned runs matched his total allowed over his previous four starts. The loss was Thompson’s first since April 16. He has made one previous start against Clearwater, tossing 6.2 shutout innings on April 11 on four hits and five strikeouts with a pair of walks.
6/22 - RHP Edgar De La Rosa (4-4, 2.97 ERA) ... De La Rosa tossed two-hit ball over 7.0 scoreless innings against Clearwater in his last start on June 16. He struck out seven in that game and walked three and has now won his last three decisions while posting a 4-1 mark in his last five decisions. De La Rosa has made two previous starts against the Threshers and has not allowed a run in 15.0 innings while giving up just three hits and striking out 10 with seven walks.
6/23 - RHP Yorfrank Lopez (3-4, 4.56 ERA) ... Lopez took the loss against Clearwater in his last start on June 17, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits in 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He has allowed two earned runs in his last 16.0 innings over three starts for a 0.56 ERA. This is Lopez’s fourth outing versus the Threshers and he is 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA with 14 strikeouts and seven walks in 17.1 innings.
STILL IN THERE ... Chad Wright continues to rank in the top ten in the league in hitting, although an 0-for-4 game last night dropped him to .315 on the season and down one notch to eighth in the FSL.
THE ARMS HAVE IT ... The pitching trio of Josh Turley, Kevin Eichhorn, and Jake Thompson remain in the top ten in the Florida State League in terms of earned run average. Turley (6-0) is second with a 1.91 ERA while Eichhorn (4-1) is right behind him with a 1.93 mark. Thompson (6-2) is 10th with a 2.48 earned run average while ranking fourth with 8.61 strikeouts per nine innings. Turley leads the league with a 0.94 WHIP, a .198 opponents’ average, and 8.45 baserunners allowed per nine innings, and also is fifth in the FSL with 66 strikeouts. Eichhorn is third in the circuit with 79.1 innings pitched.
HUNTING FOR SHARKS ... Connor Harrell is 10-for-34 against Clearwater in the series this season for a .294 average. He has three doubles and a solo homer against the Threshers in eight games played. Harrell is hitting .293 in 35 road games with six doubles, two triples and four of his six homers coming away from Joker Marchant Stadium. Jeff McVaney has nine hits versus Clearwater including two doubles and a homer for four runs batted in during his eight games in the series. Both James Robbins and Chad Wright have had nine hits in the series.
HOT BAT ... Curt Powell has collected six hits over the last three games and is 7-for-16 (.438) his last four outings with five runs batted in. He likes the friendly confines of Joker Marchant Stadium, batting a hefty .350 in 26 home games while hitting .270 in 30 road contests. However, 13 of his 20 runs scored and eight of his 10 doubles have come away from his home field.
FIRE FROM THE HILL ... The Lakeland pitching staff has allowed just three earned runs over the last five games for a 0.65 ERA. The starters have surrendered two runs over 31.0 innings for a 0.58 earned run average during that span while the relievers have given up just one earned run in 10.2 innings for a 0.84 mark.
BURGMOND ... Alex Burgos has been touched for just a single run in his last 14.0 innings over six appearances. He has struck out 16 batters in those six games while walking three and allowing seven hits. Calvin Drummond has not given up a run in his last 9.1 innings over six outings with 13 strikeouts and eight hits.
DURHAM TRIPPED ... Lance Durham saw his six-game hit streak come to a close last night, going 0-for-4. In his six game clip, he was 10-for-23 for a .435 mark.
LONG TIME IN BETWEEN ... When catcher Austin Green was charged with a throwing error on June 17 against the Threshers, it was only his second error of the season and his first since an errant throw on in the second game of the season on April 4. Green has cut down 40.7 percent of would-be base stealers this season—fourth best mark in the league.
THE ORGANIZATION ... Overall, the eight clubs in the Detroit minor league organization have a combined record of 187-157. The .544 winning percentage is sixth best amongst the 30 Major League teams. As of Saturday morning, the big club (38-32) is hanging on to a 1/2 game lead in the American League Central while the AAA club, Toledo, is at the bottom looking up in the International League West, trailing the first place team by 7.5 games. One step up, AA Erie is in fourth place in the Eastern League Western Division by 11.5 games. One rung down, West Michigan won the first half of the Midwest League Eastern Division by 1/2 game. In the New York-Penn League, Connecticut is off to a 3-5 start while the Gulf Coast League Tigers dropped their season opener.
ALUMS IN THE SHOW ... Nick Castellanos is hitting .265 for Detroit with five homers and 25 runs batted in ... Bryan Holaday is hitting .303 with seven RBI ... Don Kelly is batting .235 ... Eugenio Suarez has a .282 average with three homers and six runs batted in ... Rick Porcello is 9-4 with a 3.76 ERA ... Luke Putkonen has allowed eight runs in 2.2 innings ... Drew Smyly is 3-6 with a 3.48 ERA ... Justin Verlander is 6-7 with a 4.98 ERA.
UP NEXT ... After this series, Lakeland hits the road for six games, starting with four at Brevard County, June 24-27, and then two at Daytona, June 28-29, before closing out June with an off day on the 30th.
A LOOK AHEAD ... Lakeland will play nine home games in the first 10 days of July, including a seven-game home stand, July 4-10.
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