Game Recap: Mighty Mussels rally past St. Lucie Mets, 6-5

Reimer reaches base 5x in loss

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 30, 2023) – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels erased an early 3-0 deficit and came back to defeat the St. Lucie Mets 6-5 in the series opener at Hammond Stadium on Tuesday (Box Score).

 

The loss snapped the Mets three-game winning streak. It was also the Mets 14^th loss in their last 15 road games.

 

The Mets got off to a hot start, scoring in the first inning on a RBI single by Junior Tilien for a 1-0 lead. It was the fourth straight game the Mets scored in the first inning.

 

Vincent Perozo bashed a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the third inning off Develson Aria to put the Mets up 3-0.

 

Meanwhile, Mets starter Felipe De La Cruz was cruising. He allowed just one hit and faced one over the minimum in the first three innings.

 

The Mussels finally started to turn on their offense in the middle innings. Danny De Andrade slugged a two-run homer against De La Cruz in the fourth that made it 3-2.

 

De La Cruz recovered and did not give up another run. He pitched 5.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out five in a no-decision.

 

Perozo laced a RBI double in the sixth to increase the Mets lead to 4-2.

 

Reliever Miguel Alfonseca could not hold the lead. Mikey Perez hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth and he eventually scored with two outs when he stole third and came home on an errant throw by the catcher Perozo to make it 4-3.

 

Maddux Houghton kept the inning alive with a single, then Dylan Neuse mashed a long two-run homer to give the Mussels a 5-4 lead.

 

The Mussels added a key insurance run in the seventh when Perez smacked two-out RBI double off Elliot Johnstone to make it 6-4.

 

The Mets were gifted a run in the eighth. Kevin Villavicencio reached on an infield single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, went to third on another wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to make it 6-5 Mussels lead.

 

Mussels reliever A.J. Labas flirted with trouble in the ninth. Leadoff hitter Wilfredo Lara took Labas to a full count before striking out on a pitch out of the zone. Jett Williams worked a one-out walk and Jacob Reimer worked a two-out walk. Labas recovered to strike out Perozo to end the game.

 

Reimer reached base five times in the loss. He singled twice and walked three times.

 

Perozo went 2 for 5 with a homer, double, double play ball and two strikeouts.

 

Alfonseca took the loss after giving up three runs and three hits in one inning.

 

Johnathan Lavalle pitched 2.0 innings to get the win.

 

Labas earned his first save.

 

The Mets drew eight walks but went just 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position.

 

The Mets (13-32) and Mighty Mussels (26-20) play the second game of their series at Hammond Stadium on Wednesday. First pitch is 7 p.m.