Palm Beach Drops Saturday Contest with 7-5 Loss to Daytona
The Palm Beach Cardinals (15-11) lost their first series of the season with a 7-5 loss at the hands of the Daytona Tortugas (16-11) on Saturday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Palm Beach falls to third place in the east division with the loss while Daytona claims second place.
The Palm Beach Cardinals (15-11) lost their first series of the season with a 7-5 loss at the hands of the Daytona Tortugas (16-11) on Saturday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Palm Beach falls to third place in the east division with the loss while Daytona claims second place.
Daytona got right to work offensively in the bottom of the first inning off of Palm Beach starter Jose Davila (L, 1-2). With runners at the corners and no outs, Alfredo Duno hit a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 in favor of Daytona. The Tortugas added two more runs in the very next inning with an RBI double from Ricardo Cabrera and an RBI single from Dominic Pitelli to increase the lead to 3-0. Two innings later in the top of the fourth inning, Trey Faltine drove in Malvin Valdez with an RBI single to make it 4-0 Tortugas on top.
The Cardinals would get on the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom of the frame. Miguel Villarroel led off with a single and two batters later Jose Cordoba notched an RBI double to left field to cut the deficit to 4-1.
However, Daytona got the run back and then some with an RBI single in the top of the sixth inning from Johnny Ascanio and a two-run home run by Ariel Almonte, his league-leading ninth home run of the season, in the top of the seventh inning to increase the Daytona lead to 7-1.
Palm Beach would erupt in a big way in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Cardinals sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs highlighted by a Lizandro Espinoza RBI single, a Sammy Hernandez two-RBI double, and a sacrifice fly from Cordoba to get back into the game cutting the deficit to 7-5.
Unfortunately for the Beach Birds, the offense would be shut down in the eighth and ninth innings as Daytona held on for the 7-5 victory.
Hernandez finished 2-for-4 at the plate with that two-RBI double and a hit by pitch. Cordoba finished 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Ettore Giulianelli and Angel Cuenca combined for two scoreless innings of relief out of the Palm Beach bullpen.
Palm Beach and Daytona will conclude the series on Sunday, May 5th with the finale beginning at noon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Chen-Wei Lin (2-1, 1.64 ERA) will make his fifth start of the season for Palm Beach against Brian Edgington for Daytona.
About Jupiter Stadium, LTD:
Opening in 1998, the 110-acre complex/stadium is specially designed to house two Major League and two Minor League Baseball Teams. The stadium is home to the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals for Spring Training. The Florida State League’s Jupiter Hammerheads (Class A Affiliate of the Miami Marlins) and Palm Beach Cardinals (Class A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) make their home at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium from April through September. This year-round facility can accommodate the smallest birthday party to the largest corporate outing, while never forgetting that each and every fan is our most important product.