8/30/14

St. Lucie 3 - Palm Beach 1



The St. Lucie Mets won their fourth straight game by topping the Palm Beach Cardinals 3-1 on Friday at Roger Dean Stadium.

The victory for the Mets brought them into a tie with the Bradenton Marauders for the second best record overall in the Florida State League South Division. Bradenton was still playing its game vs. Charlotte well after the Mets and Cardinals finished.

If Fort Myers win the FSL South Division, the second best overall team will make the playoffs as a wildcard team. Fort Myers was in the first game of a doubleheader with Jupiter at the time the Mets finished their game against the Cardinals. Fort Myers entered the day 1.5 games out of first place behind Bradenton.

The Mets did their part by winning. For the second straight night against the Cardinals, the Mets got a great performance from their starting pitcher. Seth Lugo allowed just one run in seven innings while striking out a season-high 10 batters.

Lugo fanned Dante Rosenberg on his 100th pitch to finish the seventh inning.

Jake Kuebler retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth to earn his second save. He struck out three.

Lugo and Kuebler combined to retire the last 14 Palm Beach hitters.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI ground out by Anthony Garcia.

The Mets tied the game in the fourth on a single by Jared King that scored L.J. Mazzilli.

Jairo Perez broke the tie with a long home run to left field off of Cardinals starter Jimmy Reed with two outs in the sixth.

Gavin Cecchini provided the Mets final run in the sixth when he tripled to right field and plated Cam Maron.

The Mets have limited the Cardinals to just one run in 18 innings so far in their four-game series. Luis Cessa tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings in Thursday’s 2-0 win.

The Mets (75-61, 35-32) and Cardinals (75-62, 39-29) continue their series on Saturday at Tradition Field. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. The regular season finale isSunday at 10:30 a.m.

The Mets need to win at least one of those two games to stay in front of Palm Beach in the overall standings. They’ll also need to finish with one more win than Bradenton and get Fort Myers to surpass Bradenton and win the South.

If all that happens, the Mets will make the playoffs.

However, if Bradenton beats Charlotte later on Friday and Jupiter sweeps its doubleheader with Fort Myers later Friday, the Mets will be eliminated. - team press release

No comments: