Ponce Pitches Manatees to Win Over Jupiter

Cody Ponce

Fresh off his Florida State League Pitcher of the Week award on Monday, Brevard County Manatees pitcher Cody Ponce was on his game Friday night, getting his first win of the season in a 4-3 triumph over the visiting Jupiter Hammerheads.

Ponce (1-2) got off to a great start, striking out the side in the first inning and backing that up with a strikeouts and two fly outs in the second inning. He got some offensive support in the bottom of the second, when the Manatees tallied twice against Jupiter starter Luis Castillo.

With one out, Elvis Rubio singled and went to third on a Blake Allemand knock. The throw to third from right fielder John Norwood skipped away, allowing Allemand to cruise into second base. After Dustin Houle walked to load the bases, Jose Cuas drilled one to left, scoring two. The Manatees had

first and second and were in prime position to add on, but a strikeout and a ground out put an end to that.

“He’s one of the better starters in the league,” Manatees manager Joe Ayrault said of Castillo. “We had some really good at bats off him and strung them together."

Ponce hit some tough luck in the fourth inning. He walked the first batter and then gave up a single, but battled back to get a strikeout. That brought Dexter Kjerstad to the plate and he hit a lazy fly to Malik Collymore in center. Collymore was under it, but had it hit his glove and bounce away. That loaded the bases for Avery Romero, who hit a sac fly to Collymore, scoring one and a Rony Cabrera single knotted the game at two. Both runs in the inning were unearned.

Jose Cuas

The only earned run against Ponce came in the top of the sixth, when Kjerstad hit his second home run of the series, a 380-foot shot that put his team up, 3-2. Ponce battled back to get the final two outs of the inning and his night was over. Ponce gave up five hits and three runs (one earned) in his six innings. He ended up with eight strikeouts on the night, walking only one. 63 of his season-high 92 pitches were strikes.

“He threw the ball well,” said Ayrault. “Some tough luck giving up a couple runs in the fourth, but he did a nice job locking in. We stretched him out and when he came out of the ballgame, he was feeling good. That’s always a positive.”

Ayrault continued, “especially a guy like him, coming off an injury, missing the first half, when he comes out of the game ‘How do you feel?’ and these last four or five outings ‘good, I can go another one.’ He’s getting stronger and getting back to 100%.”

Ponce won the Pitcher of the week award for the week of July 4-10. He made two starts, striking out 11 in 17 innings pitched. He gave up two hits in five innings in his home start July 4 against Dunedin and then took the show on the road to Bradenton on July 9 and struck out a career high 12 in six innings of work. When you put those together with Friday’s numbers, he has now struck out struck out 25 in his last three starts, while walking one. That came Friday.

With Ponce getting through the sixth, he was still the pitcher of record when his offense came to the plate in the bottom of the frame, against reliever Juancito Martinez. Allemand singled and moved to second one out later, on a wild pitch. Cuas then drew a walk, putting runners at first and second. With two outs, Corey Ray stepped to the plate and ripped an RBI single to right, an error on the play allowed Cuas to score, giving the Manatees a 4-3 lead. Only one of the runs was earned in the inning, but it was enough to give Martinez a blown save.

Preston Gainey, just added to the Manatees roster from the AZL Brewers before Friday’s game, came in to start the seventh. He earned a hold, allowing just two hits in two innings of work, while striking out three. 

“First day, right off the plane and he just made it look easy out there tonight,” said Ayrault. “Hius adrenaline was up and he’s coming off an injury as well and his delivery, everything just looked effortless.”

Brad Kuntz came in to nail it down for the Manatees and immediately found trouble. He gave up back-to-back singles to Romero and Cabrera. Chris Hoo dropped down a bunt, but Kuntz pounced on it and made a quick throw to third, getting the lead runner. Brian Schales struck out for the second out, but things got interesting when Kuntz threw a wild pitch, moving the tying run to third and the go-ahead run to second. He then got to 0-2 on the leadoff man, Jeremias Pineda before getting him to swing at one out of the zone, to clinch the win for the Manatees.

For more info: Jupiter at Brevard County boxscore

Offensively the Manatees got a 2-for-4 nights from Clint Coulter, Rubio and Allemand. Ray went 1-for-4 with an RBI and Cuas had two RBI’s in his 1-for-3 night. “I thought our guys did a much better job commanding the zone,” said Ayrault. “They were swinging at their pitches and not giving away at bats.”

This series wraps up on Saturday at 6:35 p.m., with newcomer Freddy Peralta scheduled to take the mound for the Manatees.

This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 7/15/16