Threshers Hang On, Climie Crushes: Clearwater Edges Lakeland 8-6

Clearwater wins. Exhaling is optional.

The Clearwater Threshers beat the Lakeland Flying Tigers 8-6 on the road, which is the tidy version. The less tidy version involves a comfortable lead, a disappearing cushion and Cade Climie doing enough damage at the plate to make the whole thing hold together.

If you were following along from Clearwater, watching with friends in St Pete or checking the score out at the beaches, this was not a put-the-phone-away finish. Lakeland kept coming. Clearwater kept just enough distance.

The difference was Climie: 3-for-4, a home run and six RBI. That’s not merely helping the offense. That’s carrying the groceries while everyone else argues about where to park.

Hogart starts it, Climie takes over

Jonathan Hogart got Clearwater moving in the top of the second, sending his 17th home run of the season to left. Climie followed with a single that brought home Macon Winslow, and the Threshers had a 2-0 lead.

Lakeland answered in the fourth on a solo homer from Cris Rodriguez. At 2-1, this still looked like a game that might turn on a single mistake.

Then Clearwater brought the lumber in the sixth.

Winslow doubled to left to score Matthew Ferrara. Climie followed with his first home run of the season, a three-run shot to left that brought Hogart and Winslow home. A tight game became a 6-1 Clearwater lead, courtesy of a four-run inning with very little interest in subtlety.

That was the big swing. It was not, however, permission to start packing up.

Lakeland scored a run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Suddenly, that generous cushion looked a lot less generous. Climie went back to work in the eighth, driving in two with a single to push Clearwater’s lead to 8-4.

Those runs became essential when the Flying Tigers scored twice in the ninth. The Threshers held on, but anyone who called this one comfortable owes the rest of the watch party an apology.

The full box score has the details. The final score has the relief.

Climie supplied the margin

The three-run homer will get the attention. Fair enough. A first homer of the season that turns a close game into a 6-1 lead deserves its moment.

But don’t lose the eighth-inning single in the highlight shuffle. That hit supplied the difference between Clearwater’s final total and Lakeland’s. Insurance runs are boring right up until you need to file the claim.

Climie drove in six of the Threshers’ eight runs, accounting for 75% of the scoring through his RBI. His second-inning single helped establish the lead, his sixth-inning homer stretched it and his eighth-inning single protected it.

Rodriguez gave Lakeland a strong night of his own, going 2-for-5 with a homer, a run scored and two RBI. The Flying Tigers also finished with more hits than Clearwater. They weren’t quietly waiting for this to end.

That makes Climie’s production the story, not decoration around it. Clearwater needed big hits at different stages of the game. He supplied them.

Take the win, keep the lesson

This is fine material for the next tailgate debate in Clearwater or a baseball conversation over a drink in Dunedin: celebrate the offensive punch without pretending the finish was painless.

The Threshers built a lead, added to it when Lakeland threatened and survived the ninth. No need to dress that up as a grand declaration. An 8-6 road win counts without a personality test attached.

For the next chance to follow Clearwater, check the Threshers schedule. Bring your enthusiasm. Maybe leave the early victory speech at home.

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