Back-to-Back Homers Not Enough in ‘Tees Loss to Palm Beach

George Iskenderian
George Iskenderian

After beating Palm Beach 2-1 on Tuesday, the Brevard County Manatees were looking for their third straight win over the Cardinals on Wednesday, in the 10:35 a.m. series finale at Space Coast Stadium. Despite a late rally by the home nine, they fell short, 7-4.

Palm Beach (31-34) jumped out early with a run in the first inning against Brevard starter Clint Terry. Oscar Mercado and then Terry was called for a balk, getting Manatees manager Joe Ayrault out of the dugout to argue. He was eventually tossed for arguing the balk. Mercado got another free base on a passed ball by Manatees catcher Gregory McCall and came home with the first run moments later on a sacrifice fly by Cole Lankford. Terry came back to get a strikeout and a ground out, ending a very eventful top of the first. 

The Manatees (23-41) loaded the bases in the second inning on singles from Clint Coulter and Jose Cuas along with a walk by McCall. Cardinals starter Ian McKinney battled back to get Brandon Diaz on strikes and Malik Collymore to fly out, preserving that 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals mounted a two-out rally in the fifth. Jhohan Acevedo was awarded first on catcher interference and went to second on another balk by Terry. Mercado followed with an RBI double, ending Terry’s day. Brad Kuntz got the call out of the bullpen and walked Lankford. A double steal by the Cardinals moved runners to second and third. A two-run single by Blake Drake scored them both and gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. 

Jose Cuas
Jose Cuas Home Run
Kuntz got Mason Katz to fly out ending the inning, but the damage was done. All the runs were charged to Terry, who went 4.2 innings, allowing four hits, three runs (one) earned. He walked one and struck out two. He threw 71 pitches, 47 for strikes in the spot start.

Brevard County got back in the game in the bottom of the sixth, in a big way. Coulter doubled with one down and went to third on a George Iskenderian single. Cuas followed with his second home run of the season, lining it over the left field fence. McCall enjoyed watching Cuas do it, so he followed with one of his own, over the wall in right. All of a sudden, it was a brand new game, 4-4. 

That was the end of the day for McKinney, who went from a four run lead to a no decision, almost in the blink of an eye. He was relieved by Kyle Grana, who struck out Diaz and walked Collymore. After Collymore stole second, Angel Ortega lined out to end the inning. McKinney gave up all nine Manatees hits before leaving and was charged with all four runs in 5.1 innings of work. He struck out seven and walked one, throwing 78 pitches, 56 for strikes.

Palm Beach didn’t take long to regain the lead, scoring twice in the seventh inning. A wild pitch and an RBI single by Mercado, scoring Andrew Sohn made it 5-4 and Lankford got his second sac fly RBI of the day, making it 6-4. Grana pitched to two batters in the bottom of the seventh, before Landon Beck came in and recorded one out before leaving with the bases loaded. 

Gregory McCall
Gregory McCall Home Run
Chandler Hawkins came in and got McCall to pop to short, ending the threat. It was a huge missed opportunity for the Manatees and the last best chance they would get. Palm Beach would add a run in the top of the eighth, on an Orlando Olivera RBI double.

For more info: Palm Beach @ Brevard County boxscore


The Manatees made a game of it and got multi-hit performances from Coulter (2-for-4, 1 run), Iskenderian (2-for-5, 1 run) and Cuas (2-for-3, 1 run, 3 RBIs). With the loss, the Manatees split the four-game set with the Cardinals. They will now turn their attention to I-95 rival Daytona, who they will visit Thursday, in the final game before the All-Star break. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 6/15/16

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