Jupiter on the Brink of Elimination Losing 4-2 to Palm Beach Thursday Night
September 5, 2024 - Florida State League (FSL)
Jupiter Hammerheads News Release
JUPITER, FL - The Jupiter Hammerheads (65-62, 29-32) dropped Thursday night's contest to the Palm Beach Cardinals (80-47, 43-18) by a final score of 4-2 at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. The Daytona/Bradenton game was postponed tonight, meaning if the Hammerheads lose any game this weekend, and the Tortugas win any game this weekend, Jupiter will officially be eliminated from the FSL playoffs.
Braxton Garrett started on the mound for Jupiter as part of a major league rehab appearance against Palm Beach starting pitcher Chen-Wei Lin (), the FSL Pitcher of the Month for August. Garrett matched his Marlins teammate Ryan Weathers, who had three shutout innings on Tuesday, with three scoreless innings of his own and allowed two hits and two walks while striking out five hitters.
Keyner Benitez (L, 0-5) was the first Hammerhead out of the bullpen, and he kept the early pitchers' duel going. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Hammerheads finally broke through and scored the first run of the game. Jacob Jenkins-Cowart led off with a single to right field and was immediately followed by an RBI double by Eric Rataczak to bring in Jenkins-Cowart. Later in the frame with two outs, Jake DeLeo hit an RBI infield single to extend the Jupiter lead to 2-0.
Palm Beach got on the scoreboard immediately in the top of the sixth inning. JJ Wetherholt led off with an infield single and stole second base. With one out, Jose Cordoba hit an RBI single to cut the Hammerheads' lead to 2-1.
The score remained until the top of the eighth inning when the Cardinals flipped the narrative of the ballgame. After Benitez walked Anyelo Encarnacion with one out, Wetherholt hit his second home run of the season, a two-run home run to right field, which put Palm Beach in front with a 3-2 lead.
With Chase Centala on the mound in the top of the ninth inning, the Cardinals added an insurance run after Josh Kross doubled and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Lizandro Espinoza which put Palm Beach on top by a score of 4-2.
The Hammerheads brought the tying run to the plate twice as Rataczak hit a single with one out. However, he was picked off. Victor Ortega got himself on base to bring Garret Forrester, a pinch hitter, to the plate to represent the tying run but the Hammerheads could not come back and fell by the 4-2 final score.
Rataczak finished with a 2-for-3 day at the plate with an RBI double and run scored while Fenwick Trimble led the Hammerheads after he went 3-for-4 with a stolen base.
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