FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Offensive Explosion Leads to Cards Victory

Published on June 4, 2016 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - The Palm Beach Cardinals (27-29) exploding for fifteen hits and nine runs as they took a 9-4 victory from the Dunedin Blue Jays (25-31) on Saturday evening.

The Rundown

Blake McKnight (2-4, 3.57) took the start for Palm Beach and tossed five innings giving up four hits, four runs, walking five batters and striking out two. He struggled to find the strike zone quite a bit today as he threw 92 pitches and only 50 found the zone.

Palm Beach jumped out to an early lead as they went up 2-0 in the first inning. Darren Seferina started the day with a single up the middle and advanced to third on an error by the center fielder. Seferina then scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Blake Drake. Jhonny Peralta followed that up with his first double of the game on a hit to right field. Casey Grayson then plated him on a single to left. The inning ended on a Mason Katz double play.

The Blue Jays took a 4-2 lead in the third inning off the bat of Emilio Guerrero. Dickie Joe Thon hit a ground rule double to left to start the third. Mckinght walked two batter and then Guerrero hit a first pitch, two out grand slam home run over the left field fence that allowed Dunedin to take the two run lead.

The Cardinals would jump back on top in the bottom of the fourth with a three run inning. Katz would be given a free pass to start the fourth, Orlando Olivera and Allen Staton both hit singles to load the bases. Cole Lankford hit a double to left center that brought Katz and Staton across the plate. Seferina would plate Lankford on a sacrifice fly.

The Beach Birds would add to the lead with two more in the fifth. Grayson and Perlata both led off the inning with a walk apiece. A new pitcher, Conor Fisk, came in for the Blue Jays to replace Shafer who gave up nine hits and seven runs in just four innings. Katz advanced both runners on a ground ball to first and Staton drove in both on a single to left to make it 7-4.

The sixth inning saw the third inning in a row where the Cardinals put some runs on the board. Seferina and Drake both had leadoff walks once again to start an inning. Peralta took advantage of the free passes and hit his second double of the day, this time to left, to score Seferina. Drake scored two batters later as Katz hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in his first run of the season. The game became 9-4 in favor of the Cards and stayed there the rest of the night.

Chandler Hawkins, Michael Heesch, and Kyle Grana combined to throw four scoreless innings in relief to close out the game. Palm Beach walked away victorious 9-4 over the Blue Jays.

Stat of the Game

15 - Palm Beach would get fifteen hits on the night, one shy of the season high.

Notes

Jhonny Peralta hit two doubles, scored two runs and drove in a run in his second rehab game with Palm Beach.

McKnight picked up his second win of the season, as he pitched five innings and came out with a 7-4 lead.

The 6-9 hitters recorded nine of the fifteen hits for the Cardinals.

Every Cardinal recorded a hit in the game except for Mason Katz.

The Cardinals had three sacrifice flies in tonight's contest.

Quote of the Game

Hitting Coach Donnie Ecker on the teams' fifteen hits, "I think they did a good job of being selective and sticking to their individual plans against a guy like Shafer. He missed below the zone with his breaking ball and they simplified the at bats and did not miss their pitches."

Next Up

Palm Beach will play game three of the four game set with Dunedin tomorrow with first pitch set at 1:00 PM EST. It will be Jhonny Peralta's third rehab game with the Cardinals before going back to St. Louis on Tuesday.

Check out the Palm Beach Cardinals Statistics

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