Game Recap: Threshers make it 4 wins in a row over St. Lucie Mets

 

Clearwater beats St. Lucie 7-2 

ST> LUCIE METS PRESS RELEASE: CLEARWATER, Fla. (April 28, 2023) – The Clearwater Threshers got off to another quick start and coasted to a 7-2 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Friday night at BayCare Ballpark (Box Score).

 

For the third straight game in the series, the Threshers scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Ricardo Rosario led off the inning with a hustle infield single and immediately stole second base. Justin Crawford ripped a single against Mets starter Felipe De La Cruz to bring in Rosario for a 1-0 lead. Crawford stole second and came in to score on a Chad Castillo single. A ground out by Emaarion Boyd scored Caleb Ricketts to make it 3-0.

 

The Boyd ground out started a string of 10 batters in a row retired by De La Cruz, who went on to pitch 6.0 solid innings in defeat.

 

The Mets got on the board in the top of the second when Adrian Hernandez’s two-out single drove home Vincent Perozo to make it 3-1.

 

Jordan Viars ended De La Cruz’s 10 in a row streak with a solo home run in the fourth that made it 4-1.

 

BlaineMcIntosh crushed a RBI double in the sixth to cut the Mets deficit to 4-2.

 

The Threshers stretched the lead to 5-2 when Otto Kemp hit a run-scoring single in the bottom of the sixth.

 

De La Cruz scattered six hits and five runs over his six innings of work. He walked two and struck out five. He became the first St. Lucie starter to log six innings in a game.

 

The Threshers broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh by scoring two runs without a hit against Javier Atencio. Atencio walked the first two batters and plunked another with one out to load the bases. Atencio was called for a controversial balk to force in a run that made it 6-2. A wild pitch followed shortly after that brought in second run to increase the Clearwater lead to 7-2.

 

Meanwhile the Threshers bullpen dominated the latter half of the game. Relievers Danny Wilkinson, Andrew Walling and Orion Kerkering combined for a five innings of one-hit ball. The trio retired 10 in a row to end the game, eight on strikeouts.

 

Walling retired all five batters he faced, four via strikeout, to get the win.

 

The Mets (5-14) and Threshers (13-6) play the fifth game of their series on Saturday. First pitch from BayCare Ballpark is 6:30 p.m.