photo: Spring Breakout, 03/15/24 (Luke Kotcher/The Cardinal Nation)
In the first ever St. Louis Cardinals Spring Breakout game, the Cardinals prospects fell to the Marlins by a 3-2 score. Tink Hence stood out with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings. Zach Levenson hit a solo home run. TCN’s Luke Kotcher reports from Jupiter.
Results from the Cardinals Spring Breakout game played on Friday, March 15th.
Cardinals Prospects 2, Marlins Prospects 3 (7 innings)
The St. Louis Cardinals prospects were edged by the Marlins prospects in a seven-inning contest on Friday afternoon at Roger Dean Stadium.
Tink Hence (The Cardinal Nation prospect #2) started for the Cardinals and had a 1-2-3 first inning. In his second inning, the right-hander yielded a single and stolen base but recorded three strikeouts.
Stellar outing for @Cardinals No. 2 prospect Tink Hence in #SpringBreakout:
2 IP
0 R
1 H
0 BB
3 K pic.twitter.com/sWPlQ4TDBm— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 15, 2024
The Cardinals were on the board first with a run in the second inning. With two outs, Joshua Baez (TCN #32) walked and Chase Davis (#13) singled. After R.J. Yeager walked to jam the sacks, Victor Scott (#4) walked to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Max Rajcic (#10) relieved for two innings but took the loss after yielding up two runs. With two outs and two batters on base in the third, Miami tied the game with a single. Rajcic surrendered a solo home run in the fourth inning and was roughed for five total hits with two strikeouts. In the fifth inning, Tekoah Roby (#3) was touched for an unearned run.
St. Louis pulled to within one in the sixth inning as Zach Levenson (#33) hit a solo home run.
No. 23 @Cardinals prospect Zach Levenson connects on a solo home run at #SpringBreakout pic.twitter.com/AtTaLpsZ6u
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 15, 2024
Gordon Graceffo (#6) threw a perfect sixth inning with one strikeout. TCN’s no. 6 prospect threw nine of his 13 pitches for strikes. Sem Robberse (#14) closed out the seven-inning contest with a scoreless frame.
The Cardinals offense had three hits and five walks. Masyn Winn (#1) walked twice and stole a bag. César Prieto (#23) tripled in the third inning but was stranded.
César Prieto triple!@Cardinals | @CardsPlayerDev pic.twitter.com/SGxnt6lmGX
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 15, 2024
Defensively, Thomas Saggese (#5) committed a fielding error and Pedro Pagés (#28) caught a runner stealing. Shortstop Jeremy Rivas had a standout defensive play behind Graceffo in the sixth.
Jeremy Rivas fielded this ball lying down with his back to the batter to get the out at first. pic.twitter.com/gi7JLIRlN1
— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) March 15, 2024
The pitching staff was touched for three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks with seven punchouts.
Eight of TCN’s top 10 prospects appeared on Friday, with Cooper Hjerpe (#7) and Michael McGreevy (#8) not making an appearance. 18 of the 20 players that appeared in the game are among TCN’s Top 50 Prospects.
50 Days, 50 Nights, 50 St. Louis Cardinals Prospects for 2024
What is next
The second and final Cardinals Spring Breakout game will be held against the Houston Astros prospects on the morning of Sunday, March 17th at Roger Dean Stadium. McGreevy gets the start for the Cardinals.
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