Game Recap: St. Lucie Mets, Palm Beach Cardinals Split Two Games on Sunday

Mets win Saturday's suspended game 3-2, Cards win 7-inning contest 16-8

 

ST. LUCIE METS PRESS RELEASE: JUPITER, Fla. (June 18, 2023) – The St. Lucie Mets and Palm Beach Cardinals split a pair of games on Sunday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. The Mets won the continuation of Saturday's suspended game 3-2. The Cardinals rebounded to beat the Mets 16-8 in the ensuing seven-inning contest.

 

In the resumption of Saturday's suspend game, the Mets used a late hit by Karell Paz to squeak out a 3-2 victory.

 

With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, Jett Williams drew a leadoff walk from Henry Gomez. Jacob Reimer worked a one-out free pass to push Williams up to second base. Then with two outs, Paz hit a first pitch single to left field to bring home Williams for a 3-2 Mets lead.

 

Mets reliever Jawilme Ramirez pitched the final three innings scoreless to get the win. He pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth by retiring the next three in a row to keep the tying run from reaching scoring position.

 

The game resumed with no score in the top of the second inning. The Mets offense went to work quickly against Hancel Rincon. Vincent Perozo led off with a single and advanced to second base on a one-out single by Jose Hernandez. Yeral Martinez followed with a RBI single to make it 1-0 and Rhylan Thomas hit a RBI sac fly for a 2-0 lead.

 

Jose Quintana (rib) restarted the game on the mound for the Mets on MLB rehab assignment. He pitched 3.1 innings and scattered two hits. He gave up two runs (none earned), did not walk a batter and struck out four.

 

The Cardinals tied the game in the fourth. Jett Williams made a throwing error from shortstop and the next batter Leonardo Bernal hit a sac fly to make it 2-1. Won-Bin Cho, who was awarded second base on the Williams error, stole third base and then forced Quintana into a balk to score the tying run.

 

Quintana recovered to strike out the next batter to end the fourth inning. He then struck out the first batter of the fifth inning to end his appearance by hitting a pitch count of 46.

 

Eric Foggo got a double play ball to end the fifth inning and Luis Montas pitched a scoreless sixth inning on a minor league rehab assignment before giving way to Ramirez for the final three innings.

 

The first eight batters in the Mets lineup recorded a hit. Junior Tilien went 2 for 4.

 

In the seven-inning game that followed, the Cardinals broke an 8-8 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning by scoring a whopping eight runs as the Mets fell apart on the mound.

 

The fateful inning started with reliever Christopher Vasquez walking the leadoff batter Cho. After a single, Vasquez walked another batter to load the bases with no outs. He then plunked Michael Curialle to force home the go-ahead run. Vasquez's very next pitch was wild to the backstop to bring in another run to make it 10-8.

 

A throwing error by Vasquez reloaded the bases. He followed that by walking Lizandro Espinoza to bring in another run that made it 11-8.

 

Miguel Alfoseca relieved Vasquez and gave up a two-run single to Alex Iadisernia, a sac fly to Cho and a two-run double to Leonardo Bernal before the inning finally came to a close.

 

The eight runs were the most allowed by the Mets in an inning this season. The eight-run margin of defeat was also the largest suffered by the Mets this season.

 

Down 7-3, the Mets got back into the game on a three-run homer by Jacob Reimer. It was his fourth of the season and second of the series.

 

Fernando Villalobos tied the game 8-8 with a two-out homer in the top of the sixth. It was his first home run of the year.

 

Vasquez took the loss. He allowed seven runs (five earned) in one inning. The four Mets pitchers – starter Felipe De La Cruz, Jean Calderon, Vasquez and Alfonseca – combined to walk 11 batters in six innings.

 

Rhylan Thomas went 3 for 3 with a triple.

 

The Mets won four of six games in the series. It was their second winning series in their last four. The other two series were 3-3 splits.

 

The Mets (23-39) are off on Monday. They continue their commuter road trip at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Tuesday when they begin a six-game series against the Jupiter Hammerheads. First pitch Tuesday is 6:30 p.m.