St. Lucie 9, Charlotte 4

St Lucie’s Starter Hansel Robles struggled in last night’s St Lucie’s 9-4 win against the Charlotte Stone Crabs.  Robles yielded 11 hits, 4 earned runs in only 4.1 innings, and he received a no decision.  Robles allowed two runs in the first off RBI singles by Alejandro Segovia and Jeff Malm. However, in the following inning, St Lucie tied the game on RBI hits by Kevin Plawecki and Matt Reynolds.  In the bottom second inning, Robels gave up a home run to Charlotte’s centerfield, Kes Carter that put St Lucie down 3-2.  St Lucie’s offense managed to respond again in the following inning with RBI hits by Plawecki and Jayce Boyd, which put St Lucie ahead 4-3.  Robles exited the game in the 5^th after he allowed another RBI single to Alejandro Segovia.

It wasn’t until the 7^th inning when St Lucie was able to break the game open. Gilbert Gomez and Kyle Johnson reached base to start the inning, and Charlotte intentionally walked Jayce Boyd to load the bases. That move proved to be a big mistake since Dustin Lawley launched a grand slam to left field to put St Lucie up for good.  The grand slam was Lawley’s 19^th home run of the season.  He now leads the FSL in home runs, and is tied for the league lead in RBI’s with 67.

St Lucie also received tremendous work from their bullpen.  Randy Fontanez, Tim Byrdak and T.J Chisim limited Charlotte’s offense to only one hit and no runs over 5.2 innings.

St Lucie will play Charlotte for the final game of the series Thursday at 6:30. Matthew Bowman is scheduled to make the start for St Lucie.

Key Stats

Dustin Lawley: 2-for-5, GS, 2B

Kevin Plawecki: 2-for-4, 2B, 2RBI

Jayce Boyd: 1-for-4, 2B, RBI, BB

Matt Reynolds: 2-for-4, RBI

Hansel Robles: 4.1IP, 4 ER, 11 H, BB, 3 K

Randy Fontanez: 1.2IP, H, 3 K