Cardinals sweep Mets in doubleheader

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (August 27, 2022) – The Palm Beach Cardinals swept the St. Lucie Mets in a doubleheader on Saturday to further distance themselves in first place in the FSL East second half.

The Cardinals won game 1, 3-1, then pulled away late in game 2 for a 4-1 victory. The Cardinals, who entered the day at Clover Park up one game on the Mets in the standings, now lead the East second half by three games.

The Mets entered the day with a 5-1 doubleheader record, including 4-0 mark at home.

In game 1, Palm Beach starter Trent Baker pitched six impressive innings. He scattered six hits, gave up one run, did not walk a batter and struck out eight.

The Cardinals scored their first run on a double play ball hit by Jeremy Rivas to go up 1-0. They scored on a Nathan Church sac fly against Mets starter Calvin Ziegler in the third inning for a 2-0 lead.

The Mets scratched a run across against Baker in the bottom of the third on a RBI single by Carlos Dominguez to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Cardinals added an insurance run on a sac fly by Thomas Francisco off reliever Raimon Gomez in the sixth inning.

Cardinals closer Andrew Marrero pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning for his eighth save.

Ziegler (0-3) took the loss as he stretched out to three innings. He gave up two runs on two hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Mets first round draft pick Kevin Parada (11th overall, Georgia Tech) made his team debut. He caught all seven innings and threw out a base runner. He went 0 for 3 at the plate with two strikeouts.

Dominguez went 2 for 2 with a pair of singles and was hit by a pitch.

In game 2, the Mets jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Hancel Rincon. Omar De Los Santos singled, stole second base and went to third on a balk. He scored on a sac fly by Chase Estep for a 1-0 lead.

Victor Scott hit a two-out solo home run off Mets starter Joel Diaz in the third inning that tied the game.

Leonardo Bernal belted a two-out RBI triple in the fourth inning to put the Cardinals up 2-1.

The Cardinals scored two key insurance runs in the top of the seventh. After Mets reliever Douglas Orellana struck out the first two batters, he allowed a single and issued two straight walks to load the bases. Thomas Francisco then lined a two-run single to make it 4-1.

The Mets got a leadoff double from Raul Beracierta in the bottom of the seventh, and that was followed by a RBI single from Tanner Murphy to make it 4-2.

However, Cardinals reliever Alex Corwell struck out Justin Guerrera then got Brad Malm to hit into a game-ending double play.

Cornwell pitched the final two innings to get this third save.

Rincon (2-4) limited the Mets to one run over five strong innings. He gave up three hits, did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Diaz (3-2) took the loss. He pitched four solid innings, allowing two runs and four hits. He walked one and struck out four.

Murphy went 3 for 3 with a double and two singles in the loss.

The Mets (67-51, 27-26) and Cardinals (60-57, 30-23) conclude their series at Clover Park on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10 p.m.