Game Recap: Cardinals cruise to 15-4 win over St. Lucie Mets

 

Morabito triples to extend hitting streak to 6 games

 

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (August 8, 2023) – The Palm Beach Cardinals cruised to a 15-4 win in the series opener against the St. Lucie Mets at Clover Park on Tuesday night (Box Score).

 

Palm Beach scored the game’s first 15 runs within the first five innings while Cardinals starter Pete Hansen pitched 5.0 no-hit innings.

 

Cardinal leadoff hitter Won-Bin Cho went 3 for 3 with two doubles, a walk, four runs scored and a RBI in the first five innings before being subbed out.

 

The Cardinals scored twice in the first inning against Mets starter Jorge Rodriguez, who was making his St. Lucie debut. A throwing error on third baseman Nick Lorusso brought in the first run and a sac fly by Leonardo Bernal made it 2-0.

 

Zach Levenson crushed a three-run homer in the second inning off Rodriguez to put the Cardinals up 6-0.

 

Mets reliever Christopher Vasquez replaced Rodriguez with two outs in the third inning and got the final out. However, the Cardinals sent all nine hitters to the plate against Vasquez in the fourth inning and scored five runs. Chase Davis hit a run-scoring single, Joshua Baez drew a bases loaded walk and William Sullivan laced a two-run single that made it 11-0.

 

In the fifth inning the Cardinals scored four more runs that were all charged to Vasquez. Reliever Miguel Alfonseca plunked consecutive batters with the bases loaded to force home two inherited runs. Vasquez ended up being charged with nine runs on five hits and five walks over 1.2 innings.

 

Meanwhile, Hansen was cruising for Palm Beach. He walked Diego Mosquera to lead off the bottom of the first inning then retired the next 15 in a row to finish his outing. Hansen struck out seven and threw just 54 pitches.

 

The Mets outscored the Cardinals 4-0 over the final four innings. They finally got their first hit when Nick Morabito led off the seventh with a triple against Gustavo Calderon. The triple extended Morabito’s hit streak to six games.

 

Vincent Perozo followed with a RBI single to break up the shutout.

 

The Mets scored a pair of runs in the eighth on a Perozo RBI hit-by-pitch and a ground out by Carlos Dominguez.

 

Kevin Villavicencio hit a run-scoring double in the ninth.

 

Luis A. Rodriguez pitched 3.0 shutout innings to finish the game for the Mets.

 

The Mets (35-67, 11-26) and Cardinals (53-47, 16-19) play the second game of their series at Clover Park on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m.