Cardinals homer twice, beat Mets 4-1 in series opener
Rodriguez, Cuevas record hits in return to St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (May 19, 2026) – The Palm Beach Cardinals homered their way to a 4-1 win over the St. Lucie Mets in the series opener between the teams on Tuesday night at Clover Park.
Chase Heath hit a solo home run in the second inning and Brayden Smith hit a three-run shot off Mets starter Conner Ware in the third inning to make it 4-0.
Four Cardinals pitchers combined to limit the Mets to one run on four hits. Starter Jacob Odle pitched 5.1 innings of shutout ball. He scattered three hits, walked one and struck out eight.
Antoni Cuello pitched the final two innings for a six-out save, his third of the season.
The Mets scored their only run in the seventh inning when Sam Robertson hit a sacrifice fly to bring home AJ Salgado to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Mets got the tying run to the plate in the ninth but Cuello struck out Robertson to end the game.
Outside of surrendering the two home runs, Ware pitched well. He struck out seven batters over 5.0 innings. He allowed six hit and four runs.
Josh Blum pitched 1.1 scoreless innings on a MiLB rehab assignment. Miguel Mejias pitched 1.2 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Jeremy Rodriguez, Randy Guzman, Chase Meggers and Yohairo Cuevas each hit singles in the loss.
The Mets (16-24) and Cardinals (23-17) play the second game of their series on Wednesday. It’s the annual Education Day game at Clover Park. First pitch is scheduled for 11:10 a.m.