Tampa’s doubleheader woes continue, drop both games to Palm Beach 

TAMPA, Fla. - Despite getting excellent starting pitching in both games of Friday’s doubleheader, the Tampa Tarpons (26-27) dropped both ends of the twin bill to the Palm Beach Cardinals (24-27) at George M. Steinbrenner Field. RHP Ryan Harvey dealt into the sixth inning in Game One, giving up only two runs, while RHP Yorlin Calderon tossed five shutout innings in the nightcap, but Tampa’s offense only put up one run across 14 innings of play.

GAME 1

Harvey (5.1IP, 5H, 2R, BB, 3K, HR) had Palm Beach’s batters off balance in Game One. He used a three-pitch mix consisting of his fastball, changeup, and slider. The fastball did not record many swings and misses, but it did hold the Cardinals’ batters to an average exit velocity of 84.3 MPH. Harvey held Palm Beach scoreless through five and surrendered two runs in the sixth; however, the offense could not muster any runs behind Harvey’s strong start.

Palm Beach broke the scoreless tie in the sixth. Won-Bin Cho led off the inning with a base hit up the middle. He swiped second base, and Kade Kretzschmar had the big blow, breaking the tie with a 374-foot homerun just fair of the pole to put Palm Beach ahead.

The Tarpons had their best chance to score in the sixth. 3B Kiko Romero reached on a fielding error, and 1B Josh Moylan singled to put runners at the corners with one away. C Omar Martinez lined out to right field, but the ball was hit so hard that Romero could not get back to third to tag in time.

Cho singled for the second time in the seventh and came around to extend Palm Beach’s lead when Zach Levenson blasted a 101.1 MPH double off the wall in left-center to make the score 3-0, which would hold in the bottom half.

GAME 2

Calderon made his third start of the season, going a season-high five innings of shutout ball while only surrendering one hit. He mixed pitches effectively, and his secondary pitch, the changeup, filled up the strike zone.

With one out in the home half of the second, RF Daury Arias drew a free pass and came all the way around the bases to score on LF Garrett Martin’s 103.7 MPH double off the left field wall. 2B Beau Brewer singled to right; Martin rounded third, testing the arm of Joshua Baez which turned out to be a bad idea, holding Tampa’s lead at one.

Palm Beach came back to tie the game in the sixth. Sammy Hernandez walked and took off for second when Michael Curialle grounded a ball towards second. Brewer went to cover the bag, which led to runners on the corners. After the hit and run, LHP Geoff Gilbert (5-3) came in and spiked a wild pitch that allowed Hernandez to cross as the tying run.

The Cardinals took the lead in the seventh, starting with a ground-rule double from Baez. Brayden Jobert looped a single into shallow left to give Palm Beach their first lead of the game in the seventh.

In the bottom half of the seventh, Tampa loaded the bases with a single from Arias and walks to 3B Jose Colmenares and Brewer. C Manuel Palencia stepped up to the dish with two outs and a chance to be the hero. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Palencia hit a line drive aiming for the right field corner, but Baez ran it down to end the game and thwart any hopes of a comeback.

After an off day tomorrow, the Tarpons will wrap up their series against the Cardinals Sunday at GMS Field with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m.