Mets take opener of FSL East Division series from Cards, 6-1

JUPITER, Fla. (September 13, 2022) – The St. Mets won game 1 of the Florida State League East Division Championship Series 6-1 over the Palm Beach Cardinals on Tuesday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

It was the first playoff victory for St. Lucie since 2012. They are now one win away from clinching a berth in the FSL Finals. Game 2 of the series is Thursday at Clover Park. First pitch is 6:10 p.m.

On Tuesday, the Mets used three pitchers to dominate the Cardinals. Starter Blade Tidwell and relievers Javier Atencio and Raimon Gomez limited Palm Beach to a solo home run and four total hits. The trio stranded 10 base runners as the Cardinals went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Tidwell, the Mets second round pick this summer out of Tennessee, fired 4.2 brilliant shutout innings. He scattered two singles, did not walk a batter and struck out six. Tidwell stranded runners on second base in the first, second and fourth innings.

The Mets scored three runs on two-out hits against Cardinals starter Trent Baker in the top of the fifth. Kevin Kendall ripped a RBI triple to left field that plated Raul Beracierta all the way from first base to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

D’Andre Smith followed with a RBI single up the middle to bring home Kendall for a 2-0 lead. Kevin Parada then mashed a double to the right-center gap to score Smith to make it 3-0.

Atenico took over for Tidwell with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. He got Victor Scott to fly out on the first pitch. Atencio struck out three in a row in the sixth inning after a leadoff walk.

The Mets loaded the bases in the eighth against reliever Gustavo Rodriguez when Smith walked, Tilien doubled and Chase Estep was intentionally walked. Carlos Dominguez delivered a deep sac fly to advance all three base runners push the Mets lead to 4-0.

Rodriguez mistakenly balked twice in a row to force in Tilien and Estep, giving the Mets a 6-0 advantage.

Jimmy Crooks got the Cardinals on the board in the bottom of the eighth when he homered on Atenicio’s first pitch.

After getting a ground out, Atencio walked two batters in a row and was replace by Raimon Gomez. Gomez struck out Thomas Francisco and got Leonardo Bernal on a comebacker to end the threat.

Gomez struck out two in the ninth to finish the game in a non-save situation.

Atencio pitched 2.2 innings to get the win.

Baker (0-1) took the loss. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out six.

Tilien and Kendall had two hits apiece for the Mets.

Smith reached based twice from the leadoff spot and scored both times.

Joshua Baez went 2 for 3 for the Cardinals and reached base three times. He had half of the hits for Palm Beach.

The Dunedin Blue Jays beat the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 6-4 in game 1 of the FSL West Division playoff series. Game 2 of that series is on Thursday in Fort Myers.

Tickets are available for Thursday’s game at Clover Park at www.stluciemets.com. It is Dollar Night with $1 Bud and Bud Light, $1 soda, $1 popcorn and $2 hot dogs.