Big bottom of the eighth breaks open pitcher’s duel
JUPITER, Fla—The Palm Beach Cardinals broke open a one-run game with five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Daytona Tortugas saw their five-game winning streak end with a 7-1 defeat on Friday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Palm Beach (15-10) bounced back from three straight defeats to open the series as Daytona (15-10) fell short in their quest for their first six-game winning streak since 2019.
Palm Beach struck first in the bottom of the first inning against Daytona starter Ben Brutti. Trey Paige led off with a double, then moved to third on a ball in the dirt. With one out, Miguel Villarroel muscled an inside fastball into shallow right-center for an RBI single to put the Cardinals in front 1-0.
Two innings later, Paige and Villarroel were again in the middle of a rally for Palm Beach. Paige walked with one out and went to second on a wild pitch with two outs. Villarroel then hit a hot ground ball down the third base line where a diving stop was made, but the throw to first sailed high, allowing Paige to score an unearned run on the throwing error to put Palm Beach up 2-0.
Brutti ran into more trouble in the fourth, though largely not of his doing, as two errors began the inning before a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs. However, Brutti picked up a strikeout, a pop-up, and a groundout to escape the threat, ending his outing with it after 4.0 innings.
Dylan Simmons entered for the fifth and allowed a one-out single and two-out walk, but successfully finished a scoreless inning before passing the baton to Juan Martinez in the sixth.
Offensively, Daytona did little of note over the first six innings against Palm Beach starter Quinn Mathews, who allowed just two hits, both singles, over that span. The southpaw returned for the seventh, though, and Daytona mounted a threat as Alfredo Duno singled to begin the inning and Esmith Pineda walked with one out, chasing Mathews.
Henry Gomez entered for Palm Beach and picked up a strikeout, but Johnny Ascanio collected his second hit of the night, scoring Duno to bring Daytona within a run, and putting runners at second and third with two outs. However, a looping liner to short ended the inning with Daytona down 2-1.
Martinez worked a scoreless seventh to bring Daytona back to the plate in the eighth. Gomez retired the first two batters, but then walked three men in succession, loading the bases for Pineda. Zach Showalter came out of the bullpen for the Cardinals and induced a slow roller to second to end the inning as Daytona once more left multiple runners aboard.
In the bottom of the eighth, the dam broke as Palm Beach put the game away, sending nine men to the plate and plating five runs against a pair of Daytona pitchers to build a 7-1 lead. Showalter returned for the ninth and recorded the final three outs to nail down the win for Palm Beach.
The two teams will play the penultimate game of the series on Saturday evening in Palm Beach. Daytona will start RHP Jose Franco (1-0, 1.84), while Palm Beach will counter with RHP Jose Davila (1-1, 3.06). First pitch from Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. with pregame coverage on the Tortugas Radio network with Brennan Mense begins at 5:45 p.m.
