St. Lucie 6, Palm Beach 4

Palm Beach 7, St. Lucie 0

St. Lucie split two games of a doubleheader last night against the Palm Beach Cardinals.  The first game, which was resumed from Tuesday night, resulted in St. Lucie defeating the Cardinals by the score of 6-4.  Rainy Lara was the starter for St. Lucie, and he surrendered two earned runs off three walks and three hits in 4.2 innings pitched.

St. Lucie’s offense racked up fifteen hits and they had two pivotal two-run innings in the game.  With the game tied 2-2 in the 5^th, St. Lucie scored on back to back RBI singles by Rylan Sandoval and Matt Reynolds, which put St. Lucie up 4-2.  The Cardinals retied the game in the 6^th, but St. Lucie responded immediately with another two- run inning.  Jayce Boyd and Rylan Sandoval scratched out two singles to lead off the 7th, and Robbie Shields drove them home on a RBI double.

T.J. Chism came in relief in the 8^th, and locked up the win with a six out save. After an exciting first game, game two turned out to be extremely disappointing.

In game two, Domingo Tapia was trounced for 6 runs in 3.1 innings. Tapia started the game strong by not allowing a run and striking out five in the first three innings, but he imploded in the 4^th. Tapia yielded four hits and two walks in the inning, and he only retired one batter.

Offensively, St. Lucie’s lineup was shut down by Cardinals starter, Kurt Heyer. St. Lucie scored no runs, and was held to only four hits and two walks.

Tonight, St. Lucie will look to win the series against Palm Beach at 6:30.  The pitching matchup will be Angel Cuan vs. Marco Gonzalez.

Key Stats

Kyle Johnson: 3-for-7, 1 2B

Kevin Plawecki: 2-for-5

Robbie Shields: 2-for-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R

Rainy Lara: 4.2 iP, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 3 K

Domingo Tapia: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 6 ER, 6 K

T.J.Chism: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 K