Marauders open home slate with walk-off win against Stone Crabs

Among the many new additions at LECOM Park in 2017 is a relatively small blue and red flag, hidden back behind the boardwalk in left-center field and easy to miss in the shadow of the newly named ballpark’s video board.

That flag blew toward right field throughout a windy Saturday night in Bradenton, which made the white letters easily readable on its dark blue backdrop: “Florida State League Champions 2016.”

Less than seven months after winning its first Florida State League championship, the Pirates’ Class A Advanced affiliate opened its home schedule with even loftier expectations for the summer to come. The Marauders begin the year with six of the organization’s top 12 prospects on the roster and five players who contributed in some capacity to last year’s championship-winning team.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m., Mitch Keller, the highest-profile prospect, delivered the season’s first pitch in Bradenton. For two innings, he showed the ability that made him Pittsburgh’s No. 1 pitching prospect, according to MLB.com. But he unraveled in the third. So instead of winning with one overwhelming talent, the Marauders showed their depth to rally for a 7-6, walk-off win.

“Our team today, we were down 5-1 in the third inning, and I told myself, I’m curious to see what our team is made of today,” first-year manager Gera Alvarez said.

The comeback came in bursts — a solo home run in the third, a three-run sixth — and was completed with Danny Arribas, the No. 9 hitter, at the plate.

The outfielder’s eighth-inning infield single drove in outfielder Casey Hughston to give Bradenton (3-0) a 6-5 lead. Then, when the Stone Crabs (0-3) tied the game in the top of the ninth, he drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth to end it.

It was an unlikely ending for a game which early on seemed destined to be a low-scoring contest with Keller on the mound. The starting pitcher, ranked as the No. 46 prospect in all of MLB, carved through Charlotte for the first two innings, striking out three and setting down the first six hitters in order.

On the brand new video board is another subtle addition — pitch speeds displayed from a radar gun. It will showcase the talent of the Marauders’ pitching staff.

As Keller blew a fastball by the lead-off hitter, 96 showed on the board. When he locked up the No. 2 hitter, 94 popped up. In the second inning, when Keller landed another strikeout with a fastball, 94 flashed.

“He came out today and he followed his plan,” Alvarez said. “I thought his stuff was electric.”

Trouble began immediately in the third inning. Outfielder Nathan Lukes knocked a leadoff single up the middle and second baseman Brandon Lowe followed with a single to right. With two on and one out, outfielder Jake Fraley, the Stone Crabs’ lead-off hitter, belted a towering home run into Bradenton’s bullpen beyond the right-field fence.

Keller couldn’t regroup. The Rays’ FSL club connected for two more singles before Keller could record another out to knock the starter from the game after only 2 1/3 innings.

But the Marauders’ talent runs deeper than Keller. The bullpen combined for 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball with Jess Amedee (1-0) earning the win despite blowing the save.

Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, the top hitting prospect in Bradenton, triggered a three-run sixth inning with a lead-off single. And in the end it was Arribas, with one clutch hit and another clutch walk against relief pitcher Taylor Hawkins (0-1) to send outfielder Logan Hill tossing his helmet to the sky as the winning runner and extend the Marauders’ perfect start.

“We handled all the little things today on offense and it turned out that today we had a big at-bat by Danny,” Alvarez said, “a four-pitch walk that changed the game.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2017 at 11:41 PM with the headline "Marauders open home slate with walk-off win against Stone Crabs."