The Bradenton Marauders have been eliminated from the Florida State League playoffs, losing 6-2 to Fort Myers tonight to drop their second game in a best of three series. The game was ultimately decided in the third inning, when Fort Myers scored all six of their runs.
Shane Carle got the start, and threw two shutout innings before being roughed up in the third. Carle entered the inning with a 1-0 lead, but that quickly went away. After allowing a single and hitting the second batter of the inning, Carle had an error on a sacrifice bunt attempt. The wild throw led to the first run of the inning. A second run came on a single. After getting a strikeout for his first out of the inning, Carle gave up a two run double, followed by a two run homer to complete his outing.
Ryan Hafner came on to end the third inning, and pitched two more shutout innings. Bryton Trepagnier added two shutout innings, and Yhonathan Barrios finished things off with a shutout inning of his own. However, the Marauders offense couldn’t come back, scoring only one run in the top of the ninth.
Jin-De Jhang had the best night on offense, going 2-for-3. Adam Frazier, Walker Gourley, and Eric Wood all went 1-for-3 with a walk. All seven of the Marauders hits were singles.
The Marauders getting eliminated ends the Pirates’ minor league season. The minor leaguers will resume play during the Fall Instructional League, which begins around the middle of the month.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Not a good job at all by our starting pitchers in this series, but overall a good year.