FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

Cardinals Rally in Eighth for 5-2 Victory

Published on June 26, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


JUPITER, FL (June 25, 2014) - When a team's mired in the worst stretch of a 140-game season, it looks for any positives it can grab a hold of. For the Charlotte Stone Crabs, it was the fact that they held the lead for more than seven innings on Wednesday night. Yet that didn't do much in nine innings to open up a six game roadtrip, and the Cardinals improved their league leading second half record to 6-1 in a 5-2 victory in front of 2,398 at Roger Dean Stadium.

For the second straight day, the Stone Crabs took a 2-0 lead in the first. Less than a week removed from getting shut down across six innings by Silfredo Garcia at home, they were very patient the first time up. Tommy Coyle opened the inning with a four pitch walk before stealing second base. Tyler Goeddel's two-out single up the middle gave Charlotte a 1-0 lead before another single by Maxx Tissenbaum and an RBI single off the bat of Marty Gantt made it 2-0.

Just as he did in his regular season debut against the Cardinals at Charlotte Sports Park, Albert Suarez battled through two out singles in the first two innings. In the third, a leadoff triple by speedy center fielder Charlie Tilson into the right field corner preceded an RBI double by Ildemaro Vargas to get the Cardinals on the board at 2-1. Following a walk to Bruce Caldwell, he got Luke Voit to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play for the first two outs. With the tying run at third, the righthander struck out David Washington to retire the side.

The top of the order threatened again in the fifth once Tilson and Vargas opened it up with a pair of singles. A sacrifice bunt by Caldwell advanced the runners into scoring position with just one out, but Suarez closed out his start by striking out Voit and Washington on 2-2 pitches to preserve the 2-1 lead. Parker Markel then continued the dominance from the hill with scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh, but he'd soon tire out in the eighth.

With his pitch count relatively low, Markel attempted to go three innings for just the third time all season. After getting Voit to line out to right on a payoff pitch for the first out, he surrendered a single to Alex Mejia. A wild pitch advanced him to second and allowed Anthony Garcia to tie the score at two with a hard double to the left field wall. Nick Martini's third hit of the night proved to be the most effective, and his RBI single scored Garcia to give the Cardinals their first lead at 3-2. A two out single by Gerwuins Velazco brought up Tilson, who created more separation with a double that brought in two more runs that made it 5-2.

After notching two saves in the last series, Dixon Llorens entered the game for the top of the ninth and started it by striking out Jonathan Quionez for the first out. Julian Ridings then cracked a double, and Coyle rolled a slow grounder up the first base line that was playable for Llorens. He bobbled the ball, but noticed Ridings breaking late for third, throwing him out in the nick of time for the second out. A single by Granden Goetzman in his Stone Crabs debut brought the tying run to the plate, but Leonardo Reginatto struck out looking on an 0-2 fastball to end the game.

The series continues on Thursday night at 6:35 PM when Reinaldo Lopez (4-2, 3.04 ERA) goes up against the Cardinals Jimmy Reed in his Cardinals debut. You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 6:15 PM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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