Lakeland Flying Tigers go yard twice in loss to Brandenton

Lakeland Flying Tigers third baseman Zach Shepherd hits his team leading 10th Home Run, and Kyle Dowdy goes seven innings as the team loses to Bradenton.

Lakeland Flying Tigers players Zach Shepherd and Elvis Rubio both homered, but Dario Agrazal stymied the rest of the Flying Tigers as they fell to Bradenton 5-2 Saturday night.

Kyle Dowdy (3-4 record this season) went seven full innings giving up 4 runs on 7 hits.

Following his 12^th outing and ninth start on Saturday, the University of Houston product sports a 2.83 ERA. He also owns nearly a 5:1 strikeout to walk ratio.

After trailing the Marauders by two after the first, Shepherd brought the Flying Tigers within a run. He hit in the second with his 10^th home run of the year.

Bradenton responded right back with another two in the bottom half of the second.

Elvis Rubio added his first home run as a member of the Detroit Tigers organization in the fifth making it 4-2, but that’s all the closer they would get as the Marauders tacked on the last run in the eighth off of Fernando Perez.

Additionally, the Florida State League announced the rosters for the 2017 All-Star Game in a post on the league’s official website. The game will take place in Lakeland on June 17th.

Pitcher Beau Burrows will be Lakeland’s only representative, the team announced in a tweet on Saturday. Recently promoted to Erie, Ross Kivett was also selected to the game, but has his sights set higher now in Double-A.

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Flying Tiger Top Prospect Update (rankings reflects MLBPipeline.com):

Beau Burrows (RHP, #3) – Winless in past three starts allowing just 2 earned runs and recording 17 strikeouts. He was named Lakeland’s only representative for the 2017 Florida State League All-Star Game, which takes place in Lakeland on June 17.

Kyle Funkhouser (RHP, #6) – The Louisville product made his third Florida State League start on Thursday tossing 5.2 innings while striking out five.

Funkhouser has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his outings for Lakeland.

Sandy Baez (RHP, #10) – The 23 year old has struggled this year for the Flying Tigers posting an 0-6 record with a 7.76 ERA, and allowing batters to hit to a .360 BAA.

Next: Tigers in need of SP depth

In past two starts against Palm Beach, Baez throw 6 IP allowing just one earned on 5/25.