THE SERIES ... Clearwater swept Lakeland on July 19-21 in Lakeland and has won five of the last six in the series for an 8-4 lead. The last time these two teams played at Bright House Field each game went into extra innings for a total of 35 frames over the three days. The first time the Flying Tigers and Threshers locked horns in 2015, the game went 17 innings before Clearwater emerged with a 4-3 win.
THE FLYING TIGERS (8-25, 6th place, 13.5 GB; 41-61-1 overall) ... Thanks to rain outs on Saturday and Sunday and a scheduled day off Monday, Lakeland has not played since Friday. In their last game, the Flying Tigers beat Charlotte 9-7 as Jiwan James slammed a three-run homer to right in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Lakeland to just their third win in the last 22 contests. The Flying Tigers have not won back-to-back games since sweeping Dunedin at home on July 5-6. Lakeland has the second lowest batting average (.237) in the FSL and has scored 349 runs—second fewest in the league. With 46 stolen bases, Lakeland is last in the FSL with 15 fewer thefts than any other team. Fort Myers and Daytona are tied for first with 116. The staff ERA of 3.57 is the fourth highest in the league.
THE THRESHERS (23-15, 1st place, 0.5 game lead; 60-48 overall) ... Clearwater lost three straight to St. Lucie after winning the opening game of the set by a 4-3 score. In the final three contests, the Threshers were outscored 19-4 as they saw their North Division lead slip to just 1/2 game over Daytona, which has won three consecutive games. Willians Astudillo is hitting .307, which is the third best average in the league, while Andrew Pullin adds the power with 11 homers (one off the pace), 62 RBI (third most), and 157 total bases (fourth). On the hill, Brandon Leibrandt, who is scheduled to start the opening game of this series, in 7-2 on the year with the FSL’s ninth best ERA (2.88). He also has league-lows with a 0.97 WHIP and a .200 opponents average.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
TUE., AUG. 4 - LHP Kevin Ziomek (5-8, 4.06 ERA) ... Ziomek, who ranks third in the FSL with 100 strikeouts, held Palm Beach to two runs—one earned—on seven hits and four strikeouts in 6.0 innings in his last start on July 24 but did factor into the decision. He has struck out 20 batters over his last five starts and has a 3.00 ERA In that stretch, but is 0-3 for his efforts. Ziomek is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA In three starts against Clearwater.
WED., AUG. 5 - RHP Jonathan Maciel (4-8, 5.19 ERA) ... Maciel worked 6.0 innings in his last start at Fort Myers on July 27, allowing one run to the Miracle on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He has gone 6.0 in each of his last three outings and over his last six starts, has a 2-2 record with a 2.90 ERA with 24 strikeouts and nine strikeouts in 40.1 innings. Maciel is 0-1 against the Threshers in two starts with a 3.75 ERA.
THU., AUG. 6 - RHP Brennan Smith (4-2, 2.71 ERA) ... Smith gave up three runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings in a no-decision start at Fort Myers on July 28. It was the second straight sub-par for Smith who gave up season-highs of five runs on eight hits in a 6.0 loss to Clearwater on July 21 (his only outing against the Threshers this season). He had not allowed more than two runs in any of his previous 15 appearances, including seven starts. Smith is 3-2 with 2.72 ERA in nine starts.
HOT BAT ... Javier Betancourt is tied for the team lead with 104 hits and is 15x42 (.357) in his last 10 games with five runs scored and three RBI. He the third toughest to strike out with one whiff per 11.78 plate appearances.
JAMES GANG ... Jiwan James has hits in five straight games (10x25) with two or more hits in four of those contests. He has scored five times in those five games and driven in six runs. Each of his five homers and a FSL-high six triples have come off right-handed pitchers. Over his seven year career, including two stops in Clearwater in 2011 and 2013, he has exactly 2,400 career plate appearances in 561 games entering this series.
CATCHING FIRE ... Drew Longley has hits in six of his last seven games (7x26). Raph Rhymes is 6x22 his last five games and is fifth in the FSL with 44 walks. Ben Verlander has hits in five of his last six games (7x25) with five runs batted in.
COOLED OFF ... Francisco Martinez is tied for the team lead with 104 hits and leads with 17 stolen bases. He also has a Lakeland-high nine homers (six of which have come off right-handers). Martinez is second in the FSL with 160 total bases, tied for third with 34 extra-base hits, and fifth with a .416 slugging percentage. However, he has just one hit (a homer) in his last 17 at bats over three games.
THE BULLPEN ... Tyler Ford had not allowed a run in his first seven appearances and 14.0 innings before giving up a run in his last outing on July 30. Gabe Hemmer has given up just one run in six appearances and 16.0 innings with Lakeland and that run scored on a wild pitch allowing the winning run to score in his only loss. Whit Mayberry has given up just one earned run (four total) and has 18 strikeouts in his 17.2 innings of work with Lakeland. Scott Sitz had not allowed a run in his first 10.1 innings since returning to Lakeland in five appearances before giving up a run in 3.0 innings in his last outing on July 30.
PUTTING JULY IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR ... Lakeland was 6-22 in the month of July with a .217 team batting average and a 3.52 staff ERA. The Flying Tigers are now a combined 14-43 in the month of July over the last two seasons. The 6-22 mark this season is the worst for any month for a Lakeland team since the 2009 squad went 5-20 in August of that season.
ROSTER MOVES ... LHP Jairo Labourt, who came over to the Tigers organization from Dunedin in the David Price trade, joined Lakeland on July 31. To make room on the roster, RHP Calvin Drummond was sent to the GCL Tigers. Drummond’s stay across the runway was short as he was added back to the club on Aug. 4 with LHP Trent Szkutnik being sent to SS Connecticut.
THE SKIPPER (thru 7/31) ... Dave Huppert ranks 17th among minor league manager in terms of wins with an 1,895-1,759-1 record entering this series. Next up for Huppert is Cal Ermer who is in 16th place with a 1,906-1,728 record from 1947-1984. A 2012 FSL Hall of Fame honoree, Huppert is in his 28th season as a minor league manager. This is his fifth season with the Flying Tigers and he has a 287-298-1 record at Lakeland, including a FSL championship in 2012.
UP NEXT ... The next home series for the Flying Tigers is Aug. 7-9 against Daytona. Clearwater then makes the trip to Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland for three games Aug. 10-12.
THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG ... JaCoby Jones came to the Detroit organization in the Joakim Soria trade and was assigned to AA Erie. In just his third game with the SeaWolves, the shortstop hit three homers, becoming the first Erie player to have three round-trippers in a game since former Flying Tiger Tony Plagman accomplished the feat on May 12, 2012.
THIS DID TAKE LONG ... Lakeland has played games of 16 (twice), 17, 19, and 21 innings this season, but the Gulf Coast League Tigers beat all that with a 23-inning affair over the weekend with Blue Jays that still hasn’t been decided. The two teams were tied at 3 in the seventh in Dunedin and stayed that way until the 11th when rains forced a suspension in play. The game was picked up the next day in Lakeland with neither club scoring until both plated a run in 21st inning. The GCL Tigers pushed across a run in the top of the 23rd to take a 4-3 lead and got one out in the bottom of the inning before rains again suspended play. The game will be continued on Aug. 17.
LAKELAND ALUM HONORED IN EASTERN LEAGUE ... Former Flying Tiger, Dean Green (2012 & 2013) has been named the Eastern League Player of the Week for the week ending Aug. 2. After a promotion to AAA Toledo, where he hit .205 in 12 games, Green returned to Erie and went 10x21 in five games with four homers and nine runs batted in. The SeaWolves designated hitter now has 14 homers and 51 RBI in 75 games with Erie.
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