Palm Beach goes up 1 game over St. Lucie in 2nd half standings
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (August 23, 2022) – In a battle of first place teams in the Florida State League East Division second half, the Palm Beach Cardinals defeated the St. Lucie Mets 7-5 in the series opener at Clover Park on Tuesday. (Box Score)
It was a rough start to the week for the Mets, who walked eight batters and threw a costly wild pitch that was compounded by an error in a crucial turn of events in the seventh inning.
With two outs in the seventh inning and the Cardinals leading 5-3, Mets pitcher Joander Suarez threw a wild pitch to the backstop that brought home Leonardo Bernal for a run. Catcher Fernando Villalobos threw wildly to Suarez covering home plate, and the ball skipped through the infield allowing Brody Moore to also score to make it 7-3 Cardinals.
The Mets answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh when Carlos Dominguez scored on a wild pitch and Raul Beracierta hit a run-scoring ground out that cut the deficit to 7-5.
However, the Cardinals bullpen locked down the final two innings. Matt Hickey pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts and Andrew Marrero struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.
Mets starter Blade Tidwell (0-1) took the loss in his home debut. After a perfect first inning, Tidwell ran into trouble in the second when the leadoff hitter singled and Tidwell walked the next two. Brody Moore hit a sac fly to make it 1-0, then Tidwell walked Jeremy Rivas before being taken out.
Paul Gervase cleaned up the second inning and pitched a perfect third inning with two strikeouts. The first three Cardinals reached against Gervase in the fourth on two singles and another walk to Rivas.
Miguel Alfonseca came into the game, and after striking out a batter, he walked Victor Scott with the bases loaded to force in a run for a 4-1 Cardinals lead.
The Mets were held to just six hits. Omar De Los Santos went 1 for 4 with a two-run single, a walk and two stolen bases. He now has 65 steals on the year.
D'Andre Smith, the Mets fifth round draft pick out of USC, made his team debut and went 1 for 4 with a double and a run.
Cardinals reliever Roy Garcia (3-5) pitched three innings of relief behind starter Yonael Dominguez to get the win.
Moore, Chris Rotondo and RJ Yeager had two hits each for the Cardinals.
The Mets (66-48, 26-23) and Cardinals (57-56, 27-22) continue their series at Clover Park on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m.
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