PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (August 18, 2018) - Eleardo Cabrera drove in the winning run with an infield single in the tenth inning Saturday, propelling the Charlotte Stone Crabs into first place with an 8-7 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals at Charlotte Sports Park.After Trevor Charpie (3-1) worked a scoreless
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (August 18, 2018) - Eleardo Cabrera drove in the winning run with an infield single in the tenth inning Saturday, propelling the Charlotte Stone Crabs into first place with an 8-7 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals at Charlotte Sports Park.
After Trevor Charpie (3-1) worked a scoreless top of the tenth, Stone Crabs (67-54, 33-21) designated hitter Joey Roach bunted to start the bottom of the inning in a 7-7 game. Palm Beach (66-53, 27-28) catcher José Godoy attempted to throw out the automatic runner at third, but the ball was unable to be caught and the winning run advanced to third. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Cabrera sliced a soft liner in between third and short. Kramer Robertson attempted an off-balance throw to the plate but it was off-target and the Stone Crabs walked off with an 8-7 win.
The victory hurdles the Stone Crabs 0.5 games past the Fort Myers Miracle for first place in the FSL South with 15 games remaining.
In a scoreless game in the bottom of the first, Charlotte second baseman Vidal Brujan lined a single into left before he stole second. After a walk put runners at first and second, Rene Pinto flew out to deep center. Brujan scored from second on the wild throw to make it 1-0. After a walk and two stolen bases put runners at second and third, a pair of wild pitches plated two runs to make it 3-0. After a walk and a single, Jermaine Palacios grounded a single into center to cap the inning at 4-0 Stone Crabs.
The Cardinals came right back in the top of the second against Charlotte starter Brandon Lawson . After two singles put runners at first and second, Robertson doubled to the gap in right to score both runners and make it 4-2. Two batters later, Elehuris Montero pulled a base hit into left to bring Palm Beach within one.
After another Montero RBI single tied it at four in the fourth, the Stone Crabs began the bottom of the inning with a Palacios double. After a Cabrera walk, Brujan drove a double to left center to score Palacios and give the Crabs a 5-4 lead. With two outs, Robertson committed a throwing error, chasing home Cabrera to make it 6-4. The next batter was Fraley, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right to bring in Brujan and give Charlotte a 7-4 lead.
However, the Cardinals chipped away, scoring in three of the final four innings to send the game to extras. Ivan Pelaez worked out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the ninth to push the game into the tenth and set up the Stone Crabs victory.
Charlotte will go for the sweep at 9:05 a.m. on Sunday. Brendan McKay (3-2, 3.12) makes the start for the Stone Crabs against Jesus Cruz (5-0, 4.08) of Palm Beach. Coverage starts at 8:50 a.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
