Palm Beach cruises past Crabs 7-1

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (April 13, 2019) - The Stone Crabs bullpen did not allow an earned run over four innings Saturday, but Charlotte could only muster four hits in a 7-1 loss to the Palm Beach Cardinals at Charlotte Sports Park.
Brian Shaffer and Simon Rosenblum-Larson pitched two innings each, striking out four and allowing only two hits combined.
The Stone Crabs (3-7) took the lead early after Vidal Brujan walked to begin the bottom of the first. Tanner Dodson then lined a single to right, moving Brujan to third. The next batter was Ronaldo Hernandez , who drove in Brujan with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0 Charlotte.
From there, the Stone Crabs bats went cold. They didn't pick up another hit until the sixth and managed only one extra-base hit for the night.
The Cardinals (8-2) scored their first six runs with homers. Trailing 1-0 in the sixth, Rayder Ascanio singled before Justin Toerner mashed a two-run home run to right to give Palm Beach a 2-1 lead.
With Palm Beach still up 2-1 in the fifth, Chase Pinder walked before Ascanio doubled him to third. After an intentional walk, Zach Kirtley deposited a grand slam to left to extend the Cardinals lead to 6-1.
Stone Crabs starter Paul Campbell (0-2) surrendered six runs on seven hits over five innings, striking out three and walking four before the bullpen steadied things.
Charlotte will look to salvage the finale of the three-game series at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Riley O'Brien (1-0, 3.09) makes the start for the Crabs against Johan Oviedo (1-0, 1.80) of Palm Beach. Coverage begins at 10:15 a.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.