The Palm Beach Cardinals defeated the Daytona Tortugas 13-5 Thursday night at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, to close the 2026 regular season. Palm Beach finished with a 34-32 second-half record and a 67-65 overall record. The Cardinals also finished with the best overall record in the Florida State League East.
Palm Beach Overcomes Early Deficit
Daytona took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Palm Beach starting pitcher Jefferson Moran. Rafhlmil Torres singled before Arnaldo Lantigua hit a two-run home run. Palm Beach answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning, as Kenly Hunter singled, Dee Kennedy delivered an RBI single and Owen Henne hit a grand slam.
Henne finished the week 7-for-18 with three home runs and 11 RBIs. Gabe Camacho extended Palm Beach’s lead to 6-2 with his first professional home run in the third inning. Sebastian Dos Santos added a solo home run in the fourth inning, giving the Cardinals a 7-2 advantage.
Cardinals Match Season High With Five Home Runs
Moran worked 3 2/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. Brian Garmon earned the win, his third of the season, after pitching two innings and allowing one hit with four strikeouts. Daytona starter Jake Brink was charged with the loss and fell to 2-6.
Palm Beach added two home runs in the sixth inning. J.P. Cabrera hit his first Single-A home run after Camacho was hit by a pitch, and Dos Santos followed with his second home run of the game.
Dos Santos recorded his first professional multihomer game, while Palm Beach hit five home runs to tie its season high. Daytona scored three runs between the seventh and eighth innings, but the Cardinals answered with three runs in the eighth. Owen Henne reached on an infield single, a throwing error allowed a run to score and Cabrera followed with a two-RBI double for his third and fourth RBIs of the game.
Palm Beach held Daytona scoreless in the ninth inning to complete the 13-5 victory. Daytona finished with a 37-28 second-half record and a 58-73 overall record. The win gave Palm Beach a final regular-season record of 67-65.
Source: Original report