Turner homers, totals three hits as Mussels fall to Cardinals
JUPITER – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels fell to the Palm Beach Cardinals 8-4 Wednesday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Following a 41-minute weather delay, Colby Turner wasted no time lighting up the stadium. The Minnesota Twins 12th rounder laced the first pitch from Jacob Haley over the wall in left to make it 1-0. The shot left Turner’s bat at 107.5 mph for his first professional homer. Turner’s homer comes exactly one month after the last leadoff home run for the Mussels, hit by Ramiro Dominguez against Lakeland.
Mussels’ (62-52, 25-24) starter Matt Barr (0-1) worked a clean first inning before the Cardinals (58-58, 25-25) got to him in the second. Palm Beach sent 10 men to the plate in the frame, scoring four runs on four hits while the Mussels made two errors behind Barr. The righty left the bases loaded to hold the deficit at 4-1.
Melvin Rodriguez took over on the mound in the third. He allowed three runs to score and saw the Cardinal lead extend to 7-1. Rodriguez finished his outing with five strikeouts across 2.1 innings.
Brad Rudis entered with one out in the fifth and needed just eight pitches to get the final two outs of the inning.
Charlie Scholvin led off the sixth with a hit-by-pitch. Turner then singled to left, marking the first Fort Myers hit since his homer on the first pitch of the game. Scholvin went first to third on the hit and Turner took second on the throw. Vahn Lackey then grounded out to plate a run.
Rudis allowed back-to-back doubles in the seventh, making it 8-2. He went 2.1 innings and those were the lone pair of hits he allowed.
Turner led off the eighth with an opposite field single, recording his second three-hit game in his first 13 career contests. Lackey followed with an opposite field knock of his own, becoming the first Mussel not named Colby Turner to record a hit in the game. Three batters later, Aidan Teel shot a two-run triple off the wall in right to make it 8-4.
Scholvin doubled in the ninth but the Mussels did not threaten the Cardinal lead.
The series continues today, Aug. 20. Cristian Hernandez (6.75) starts for the Mussels opposite Gabriel Chinchilla (7.41). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with coverage beginning at 6:20 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.