Bradenton Falls Flat in Finale with Beach Birds

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Marauders fell far behind in Sunday afternoon’s game and never recovered in a 7-1 loss to the Palm Beach Cardinals at LECOM Park.

The Marauders (27-15, 56-51) stranded 10 baserunners in the loss and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The defeat ended a four-game win streak for Bradenton, who remain two games ahead of second-place Tampa after the latter lost to Dunedin.

Victor Scott led off the game with a triple for the Cardinals (24-18, 54-52) and scored on a groundout by Alex Iadisernia. The Marauders quickly tied the score, 1-1, in the bottom half as Palm Beach starter Trent Baker walked four batters, including a bases-loaded walk to Deivis Nadal that forced home the tying run. But a Deion Walker flyout to right field ended the inning, leaving three men stranded.

Leonardo Bernal slugged a solo home run to center field off Marauders starter Po-Yu Chen in the top of the second for a 2-1 Cardinals lead. Chen lasted just three innings, throwing 55 pitches and allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. The right-hander did not strike a batter out, the first such occurrence in his 29 career starts.

Palm Beach pulled away in the ensuing innings. Bernal hit his second homer of the game in the fourth, a solo shot off Marauders righty Drew Irvine, and Scott scored from third on a double-play grounder in the fifth for a 4-1 visitors lead.

Bradenton bats missed out on numerous opportunities at the plate, stranding a Tres Gonzalez single and a Brenden Dixon walk in the third inning and squandering back-to-back singles by Luis Hernandez and Jasiah Dixon in the fourth.

The top of the seventh inning brought further misfortune for Marauders pitching, as five Cardinals batters stepped to the plate before an out was recorded. Sergio Umana, who had tossed a scoreless sixth, allowed a Bernal single and a Darlin Moquete two-run homer, chasing the right-hander from the game. Mitchell Miller took over, and in between three walks and a hit-by-pitch, surrendered a third run in the inning on a R.J. Yeager sacrifice fly to right field.

Cardinals pitching, meanwhile, proved crafty after the first inning. Baker settled down to strike out six batters across four innings before yielding to Gustavo Rodriguez, who turned in four scoreless innings with four strikeouts out of the bullpen.

The Marauders’ last offensive threat came in the seventh, as Tsung-Che Cheng and Juan Jerez singled but were left stranded on the corners. Cheng’s hit extended his hitting streak to a season-high nine games.

Palm Beach’s Rodriguez and Andrew Marrero combined to retire 10 of the last 11 Marauders hitters of the game, with the latter turning in a perfect ninth inning.

All seven Marauders hits in the game were singles, two of which came from Gonzalez, his first career multi-hit game. Bernal led Palm Beach with four hits, and Thomas Francisco drew four walks in a seven-walk total by the Bradenton staff.

The Marauders travel to Tampa on Tuesday to open a six-game series against the Tampa Tarpons, Single-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Steinbrenner Field.

For more information about the Bradenton Marauders, please call (941) 747-3031, visit BradentonMarauders.com, or email [email protected].

###