Mejia, Caldwell blast Cards past the Mets, 9-5

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (June 9, 2014) - The Palm Beach Cardinals completed a two-game sweep of the St. Lucie Mets at Tradition Field by beating the Mets 9-5 on Monday.

Both clubs hammered out 14 hits, but the difference was the long ball. Alex Mejia and Bruce Caldwell launched a pair of three-run homers for the Cardinals. Meanwhile, the Mets had 11 singles, three doubles and grounded into three double plays.

Joe Cuda gave up 10 hits but held the Mets to three runs, all scoring in the second inning, in 5 2/3 innings. Three relievers combined to go the rest of the way.

Domingo Tapia took the loss. He allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. All four runs he gave up came with two outs in the third. Breyvic Valera drove in a run on a comebacker to the mound that deflected off Tapia, and two batters later Mejia clubbed a homer to put the Cardinals up 4-3.

The game remained 4-3 until the seventh. Hunter Carnevale gave up a hit and walked two to load the bases with no outs. Mejia drove in a run with a ground out, then Caldwell opened the game up with his three run bomb to make it 8-3

Mejia added his fifth RBI in the eighth on a single against Alex Panteliodis.

The Mets got a couple runs back off Kyle Barraclough in their half of the eighth. Aderlin Rodriguez drove in T.J. Rivera with a double. Cole Frenzel made it a perfect 4 for 4 night when his single brought in Rodriguez to make it 9-5.

However, Barraclough got Eudy Pina to pop out to end the threat. In the ninth, Danny Miranda induced a game-ending double play ball off the bat of T.J. Rivera.

The Mets scored the first three runs in the second on RBI doubles by Frenzel and Maikis De La Cruz and a run-scoring single by Yeixon Ruiz. However, Ruiz was caught in a rundown and tagged out and Gilbert Gomez grounded out to put the brakes on the inning.

The Mets (35-29) have lost six of their last eight games but benefited from Jupiter when the Hammerheads were able to beat Fort Myers 8-7. The Mets still remain 1.5 games back of Fort Myers for first place in the Florida State League South Division with six games to go in the first half.

The Mets open a three-game series at Jupiter (27-37) on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. Adam MacDonald has the call of the game from Roger Dean Stadium on www.stluciemets.com.