PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (Interstat) — The Palm Beach Cardinals defeated the St. Lucie Mets 12-4 on Friday at Clover Park, using a seven-run sixth inning to break open a close game. Palm Beach’s 14-5 record is the best in the Florida State League, while St. Lucie fell to 9-10.

Palm Beach struck first in the top of the first on Jack Gurevitch’s ground-rule double that scored Ryan Weingartner. St. Lucie answered in the bottom half on Randy Guzman’s double. After the Mets tied it 2-2 in the third, Palm Beach took the lead for good in the fourth on Luis Pino’s two-run single. The Cardinals then erupted for seven runs in the sixth, aided by a wild pitch from losing pitcher Ernesto Mercedes and key hits from Gurevitch and Alex Birge, who tripled in two runs. Palm Beach added a run in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

AJ Salgado went 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI for St. Lucie. Patrick Galle earned the win, his first. Mercedes took the loss after allowing five earned runs in one-third of an inning. Attendance was 903, and the game lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes.