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St. Lucie wins 1-0 and 9-4 in Fort Myers
ST. LUCIE METS PRESS RELEASE: FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 2, 2023) – The St. Lucie Mets continued their success in doubleheader games this season by winning a pair of games against the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels at Hammond Stadium on Friday. The Mets won game 1, 1-0 (Box Score), then turned around and beat the Mussels again 9-4 in game 2 (Box Score).
Game 1 was dominated by Mets starter Layonel Ovalles. Ovalles, who had his previous start washed out after one inning, thoroughly dominated the Mussels by pitching 6.0 shutout innings. He allowed just two hits, did not walk a batter and struck out a season-high 10.
Jorel Ortega hit the first pitch Ovalles threw in the game for a double. Ovalles struck out the next two and induced a fly out to strand Ortega at third base. Only one other Mussel would reach scoring position the rest of the game.
Jean Calderon, who had not appeared in a game since May 19th, pitched a perfect seventh with two strikeouts to earn his first save.
The Mets scored the only run in the fourth inning off Mussels starter Adrew Morris. Karell Paz hit a two-out single. He then proceeded to steal second and third base. Kevin Villavicencio chopped an infield single to bring home Paz for a 1-0 lead.
Villavicencio led all hitters by going 3 for 3. He added a double.
In game 2, the Mets forced Mussels starter Cory Lewis out of the game with two outs in the first inning by elevating his pitch count to 37. However, the Mets only scored one run when Yeral Martinez worked a bases loaded walk.
The Mets broke the game open by scoring five runs in the third inning. Jett Williams clobbered a solo home run, his second of the season, to make it 2-0. Three errors on the Mussels, including two throwing errors on second baseman Mikey Perez, opened the door for four unearned runs. A ground ball on the infield by Villavicencio to Perez scored two runs when Perez threw wildly home to get Martinez. Those runs made it 5-0. A sac fly by Fernando Villalobos followed to make it 6-0.
The Mussels rallied by scoring four unanswered. A single by Perez was followed by a RBI triple from Rafael Cruz against Mets starter Douglas Orellana in the bottom of the third. Rubel Cespedes hit a sac fly to make it 6-2.
That would be the only damage done against Orellana. The leadoff hitter reached second base with no outs in all four of Orellana's innings, but he held the Mussels to 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Orellana allowed two runs on five hits over 4.0 innings. He walked three and struck out five in a no decision.
Cespedes hit a two-run homer off Mets reliever Eric Foggo, who was making his team debut, in the fifth inning to cut the Mets lead to 6-4.
Joey Lancellotti entered the game with one out and the tying run on first base later in the inning and got a strike out and fly out to keep the lead.
The Mets scored three in the sixth to open the lead back up. Williams hit a RBI single and Junior Tilien followed with a two-run homer to make it 9-4.
Lancellotti finished out the game by pitching the final 2.2 innings. He did not allow a hit or run. He overcame five walks and struck out three.
The three Mets pitchers combined for 10 walks in game 2 but held the Mussels to 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position.
The Mets improved to 5-1 in doubleheader games this season. Overall the Mets are 7-3 when they play two games in a day.
The win in game 1 snapped a seven-game road losing streak. The Mets have won seven of their last 11 overall.
The Mets (15-33) and Mighty Mussels (27-22) play the fifth game of their series at Hammond Stadium on Saturday. First pitch is 6 p.m.
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