Cardinals take series finale 5-2 over Mets

JUPITER, Fla. (May 8, 2022) – The Palm Beach Cardinals defeated the St. Lucie Mets 5-2 in the series finale at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Sunday.

The Cardinals overcame mid-game 2-0 deficit by scoring three in the fifth and two in the sixth against Mets reliever Raimon Gomez.

Hansel Otamendi and Ryan Holgate hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth inning to tie the game 2-2. Tyler Reichenborn knocked a RBI single to plate Holgate for a 3-2 lead.

Brady Whalen led off the bottom of the sixth with a homer. Jeremy Rivas followed with a double. With two outs in the inning Rivas scored from third base on a wild pitch from Gomez to make it 5-2.

The Mets scored the first two runs of the game on two-out RBI hits from Alex Ramirez. Ramirez tripled home Kevin Villavicencio in the third inning for a 1-0 lead. Ramirez poked RBI single to right field in the fifth to make it 2-0.

Ramirez went 15 for 28 in the series with a home run, three doubles and two triples.

The Mets had runners at the corners with one out in the ninth inning and Ramirez on deck. However, Ramirez was left there when Cardinals reliever Andre Granillo got Villavicencio to hit into a game-ending double play.

Mets starter Robert Colina was excellent over 4.0 scoreless innings. He did not walk a batter, struck out five and induced two double plays.

Cardinals starter Inohan Paniagua held the Mets to two runs over 5.2 innings to earn his first win.

William Lugo went 2 for 3 with a pair of singles, walk and run in the loss.

The Mets lost consecutive games for just the second time this season.

The Mets (18-9) are off on Monday. They return home to Clover Park on Tuesday to start a six-game series vs. the Lakeland Flying Tigers. First pitch on Tuesday is 6:10 p.m.