FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Pearce Propels Cardinals to Victory

Published on May 17, 2016 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - The Palm Beach Cardinals (16-24) rode a complete game by Matt Pearce to a 6-0 victory over the Lakeland Tigers (22-17) on Tuesday evening.

The Rundown

On a rainy afternoon in Jupiter, FL, the skies opened up long enough to watch Matt Pearce (4-1) pitch a gem to lead his team to their second victory in the month of May. Pearce would pitch nine complete, giving up five hit, zero runs, walk one batter and strike out six, including the last three of the game. He would throw 103 pitches, which 76 of them would be across the plate for strikes. Eight of the 27 balls thrown were in the first inning. He would take advantage of the aggressive nature of the Tigers and command the strike zone and turn them into outs.

The Palm Beach offense would strike early as they drove a run across in both the second and third innings, chasing starting pitch Jairo Labourt (3-2) out of the game after only three innings. They would draw five walks over those three innings and take advantage of the walks into runs.

In the second inning, Blake Drake would hit a leadoff double and get to third on a sacrifice bunt off the bat of Oscar Mercado. Allen Staton, in his first game off the DL, would drive in Drake to take a 1-0 lead and that is all Pearce would need.

In the third inning, the Cardinals would score again as Casey Turgeon and Vaughn Bryan would open the third with back to back walks. Orlando Olivera would then move them over on a ground out to short. Turgeon would then score on a wild pitch on a walk to Blake Drake. The Cardinals would then have a 2-0 lead after three.

The Cardinals would then break it open in the fifth. Vaughn Bryan and Orlando Olivera would start the fifth with back to back walks and Drake would hit his second double of the evening, driving in two runs to make it 4-0 in favor of Palm Beach.

Palm Beach would then put two more insurance runs on the scoreboard in the eighth inning as the rain started to come down. Oscar Mercado would hit a single to open up the frame and then get to second on an Allen Staton ground out. Mercado would swipe his 13th bag of the season to get to third and score on a Chris Rivera single. Cole Lankford would get a single as well, putting runners at the corners with only one out. Chris Rivera would later cross the plate on a failed pickoff attempt from Edgar De La Rosa that would be thrown in the Cardinals bullpen. This would be the last run that the Cardinals would score as they led 6-0.

Matt Pearce would then come out for the ninth inning sitting at 94 pitches. He would only need 10 pitches to end the game as he would strike out the side and it would be the first time in his professional career that he would throw a complete game.

Stat of the Game

9 - Matt Pearce pitched all nine innings of shutout baseball to pick up his second win in the month of May.

Quote of the Game

Matt Pearce on striking out the side in ninth inning, "I don't remember the last time I struck out the side ever. It was awesome to do it in the ninth and in that situation to help my team to a win."

Notes

Palm Beach snapped a five game losing streak, they are now 2-15 in the month of May.

Matt Pearce has both of the Cardinals wins in the month of May.

The Cardinals had eight hits, eight walks and eight strike outs on the evening.

Drake got to nine doubles on the season as he hit two tonight.

The first three hitters in the Cardinals order would draw two walks apiece on the evening.

Next Up

Palm Beach and Lakeland will play game three of four tomorrow afternoon at 6:30 as Ian McKinney (2-3) will take the mound. The Lakeland Tiger will start A.J. Ladwig (6-1) to try and retake the lead in the series.

Check out the Palm Beach Cardinals Statistics

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