Palm Beach 10, St. Lucie 6

The new kids on the block did their best to try and make a game out of this one — but there was just too much going on to make the come back from. Angel Cuan‘s struggles out of the gate, including the error they made behind him, put him in trouble basically all night. He allowed nine hits and walked four — and was charged with nine runs, six of them earned.

It didn’t help that Estarlin Morel, brought in with two men on, allowed both of his inherited runners to score and another one charged solely to him — making the score 10-1 at that point. Bret Mitchell and Randy Fontanez tossed a combined 3.0 scoreless innings after that, however, with Mitchell recording six of the nine outs.

The one big blow for the St. Lucie offense was Jayce Boyd‘s three-run home run in the seventh inning — but the score was only 10-4 at that point, so it was a case of too little, too late. Gilbert Gomez and Dimas Ponce would pick up an RBI each in the eighth and ninth, respectively, but Gomez and Charley Thurber made consecutive outs with the bases loaded to end the ball-game.

Catcher Kevin Plawecki was forced to leave the game after shifting over for a breaking pitch in the dirt while catching. He appeared to be in pain, possibly in the hip area. (Adam Rubin)

Key Stats

T.J. Rivera: 3-for-5, 1 R

Jayce Boyd: 2-for-5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Dustin Lawley: 3-for-5, 1 2B

Gilbert Gomez: 2-for-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 R

Angel Cuan: 5.1 IP, 9 H, 1 HR, 4 BB, 9 R, 6 ER, 3 K

Estarlin Morel: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 ER, 1 K, 2-2 inherited runners scored

Bret Mitchell: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Randy Fontanez: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K