FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Gonzales Sharp in Cardinals' Third Straight Loss

Published on May 10, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - Marco Gonzales was terrific on the mound yet again, but Matt Koch and the St. Lucie Mets did just enough to slip by the Palm Beach Cardinals 2-0 on Saturday night at Roger Dean Stadium. The Mets took three of four from the Cardinals in the series.

For his fifth straight game, Gonzales turned in a quality start for the Cardinals. The lefty allowed just one run and scattered five hits over six innings. He struck out a career-high eight batters - the most by a Cardinals pitcher this season - and issued just one walk.

Gonzales' only blemish of the night came in the second inning when the Mets strung three straight hits together ending with a Phillip Evans RBI single. Following the run, Gonzales (2-2) allowed just one hit and struck out seven over his remaining 4.2 innings.

Gonzales ranks fifth in the Florida State League with a 1.43 ERA (6ER/37.2IP) through his first six starts of the season.

Mitch Harris relieved Gonzales for the seventh and eighth innings and allowed one run on two hits while walking one and fanning two. Dilson Herrera drove in the only other run in the game in the seventh inning off Harris to give St. Lucie a 2-0 lead.

Sam Tuivailala pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Birds but the Palm Beach bats stayed quiet against St. Lucie pitching and couldn't break into the scoring column for the third time this year.

Koch (4-0) was great on the bump for the Mets, surrendering just three hits in 6.2 scoreless innings en route to his fourth win of the season. Randy Fontanez and Beck Wheeler preserved the combination shutout with a combined 2.1 shutout innings to end the game. Wheeler picked up his fifth save of 2014 with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Catcher Casey Rasmus went 2-for-3 at the plate for Palm Beach, accounting for half of the team's hits in the game.

After an off day on Sunday, the Cardinals will host the Dunedin Blue Jays for four straight games at Roger Dean Stadium. RH Michael Mayers (2-3, 4.41) will start for Palm Beach on Monday against RH Kendall Graveman (0-1, 3.60) for Dunedin. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

Check out the Palm Beach Cardinals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Florida State League Stories from May 10, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central