The Palm Beach Cardinals defeated the St. Lucie Mets 11-5 in a 12-inning thriller on Saturday night at Tradition Field.
The tough loss does not eliminate the Mets from playoff contention. They will enter the final day of the regular season with their postseason hopes barely alive. To make the playoffs as a wildcard team in the FSL South Division the Mets need the following to happen:
-The Mets need to beat Palm Beach on Sunday
-Charlotte must sweep a doubleheader with the Bradenton on Sunday
-Fort Myers must beat Jupiter on Sunday
The Mets host Palm Beach at 10:30 a.m. Charlotte and Bradenton begin the doubleheader at 10:30 a.m. Jupiter and Fort Myers get started at 10:35 a.m.
On Saturday, the Cardinals scored six runs in the 12th inning to break a 5-5 tie. Luke Voit doubled with no outs to bring in Derek Gibson, who had reached on a leadoff walk. That only started the scoring.
Robby Coles struck out two batters but threw a wild pitch that let Anthony Garcia come home to score. After an error let in another run and extended the inning, Nick Martini drove in two runs with a single and Gibson singled in the final run.
The Mets were trailing 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth but managed to tie the game. With the bases loaded, L.J. Mazzilli grounded to Bruce Caldwell at third, but Caldwell’s throw to first pulled David Washington off the bag and Phil Evans scored to tie the game.
The Mets had a chance to win it with the bases reloaded, but Kevin Herget got Jairo Perez to ground out to short on a 3-2 pitch to send the game to extras.
Gibson, who was called up from the GCL Cardinals and making his FSL debut, had perhaps the biggest hit of the night. He hit a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh to put the Cardinals up 5-4. Mets manager Ryan Ellis argued the ball was foul down the right field line but home plate umpire Brennan Miller ruled it was fair and ejected Ellis from arguing.
In the fifth inning, Jared King had put the Mets ahead 4-3 with a two-out, two-run double off the wall in left.
Each team scored two runs in the first inning and Palm Beach took a brief 3-2 lead on an RBI single by Adam Ehrlich in the fourth.
Herget got the win despite blowing the save. He limited the Mets to the one unearned run in the ninth over three innings.
T.J. Chism, who walked Gibson to start the 12th, took the loss.
Gibson went 3 for 4 with three runs and three RBIs in his first FSL game. He was also walked twice and hit once, so he reached base safely six times.
Mets starter Kevin McGowan did not factor into the decision. He left with the lead after pitching six innings and holding the Cardinals to three runs, two earned.
The Mets outhit Palm Beach 15-11. Maikis De La Cruz and Perez had three hits apiece.
Evans, Mazzilli and King all had two hits.
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