FORT MYERS – The Mighty Mussels scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short 5-3 against the Palm Beach Cardinals at Hammond Stadium Friday night.

The Mussels scored a pair of runs in the ninth inning on RBI base hits from Jose Rodriguez and Rafael Cruz to cut the Palm Beach lead to 5-3 with only one out. Issac Pena was the next batter and grounded into a fielder’s choice. Angel Del Rosario came on to pinch hit representing the tying run, but lined out sharply to right field to end the game.

The Cardinals got the scoring started in the top of the first after leadoff man Trey Paige came around to score on a throwing error by Mussels’ starter Charlee Soto (0-1). One batter later, Kade Kretzschmar drove in the second run of the game on a sacrifice fly to left field to give Palm Beach a 2-0 lead.

Soto (0-1) would take the loss after allowing a pair of unearned runs across three innings. The right-hander scattered five hits and struck out three on just 49 pitches.

In the bottom half of the first, Fort Myers got base hits from Poncho Ruiz and Rayne Doncon, but back-to-back strikeouts by Brandon Winokur and Rodriguez ended the threat.

Palm Beach left-hander Quinn Mathews (2-0) started for the Cardinals and was downright dominant, earning the win after striking out 13 of the 21 batters he faced across six shutout innings. Mathews lowered his season ERA to 0.50 and now has 38 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched in 2024.

Each team was held scoreless until Palm Beach tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a two-run single from Paige to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Fort Myers finally scratched across a run in the eighth inning after Pena reached on a walk and came around to score on an RBI groundout from Ruiz.

Palm Beach got the run right back in the top of the ninth as Paige reached with a single and scored on a line drive from Jose Cordoba to push the lead back to four runs at 5-1.

The Mussels are back in action today at 6:05 p.m. as right-hander Paulshawn Pasqualotto (0-1, 2.57) will get the game five start, opposite Palm Beach righty Jose Davila (1-0, 0.00). Coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.