Lucy Game Notes - Vasil solid, Dominguez homers as Mets edge Cards 3-2

                                             (Mike Vasil)

Ramirez collects 3 more hits, now 7 for 10 in series

 

JUPITER, Fla. (May 4, 2022) – The St. Lucie Mets jumped out to an early lead and hung on to beat the Palm Beach Cardinals 3-2 at Roger Dean Stadium on Wednesday.

 

The Mets have won five in a row and seven of eight. They have allowed more than three runs in just one of their last 10 games.

 

The Mets struck quickly, as Alex Ramirez singled on the first pitch of the game and two batters later Carlos Dominguez cracked a two-run homer to left field. It was the third consecutive at-bat in which Dominguez homered. He hit long balls in the fifth and eighth innings on Tuesday. Dominguez leads the Florida State League with eight home runs.

 

Ramirez led off the third inning with his eighth double of the season and scored on Stanley Conseugra’s ensuing single to make it 3-0.

 

Mets starter Mike Vasil was solid over 5.0 innings. He surrendered just one run on a single by Tyler Reichenborn in the third inning that cut the Mets lead to 3-1. Vasil escaped a bases loaded, one-out jam later in the inning.

 

The Cardinals got the first two runners on base in the fifth inning but Vasil got a double play on a line out and then a fly out to end his outing. He scattered six hits, walked two and struck out six on 89 pitches.

 

Nate Jones gave the Mets three solid innings of relief work. Osvaldo Tovalin started the eighth inning with a triple but Jones got the next three batters to limit the damage to a run-scoring ground out that made it 3-2.

 

Grant Hartwig worked around a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth to earn his second save.

 

Ramirez went 3 for 5. He is now 7 for 10 in the series.

 

Eight of the nine Mets in the order collected a hit after seven of the nine players in the lineup registered hits on Tuesday.

 

The Mets (16-7) and Cardinals (9-14) play the third game of their series at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Thursday. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.