Game Recap: Flying Tigers Hold Off St. Lucie Mets, 5-2

Lakeland goes 6-0 in series, Mets swept in a series for 2^nd time

 

ST. LUCIE METS PRESS RELEASE: LAKELAND, Fla. (July 9, 2023) – The Lakeland Flying Tigers completed a six-game sweep of the St. Lucie Mets with a 5-2 victory at Joker Marchant Stadium on Sunday afternoon. It was the 10^th straight win for the Flying Tigers.

 

The Mets had many opportunities to get out of town with a win. They went 2 for 16 with runners in scoring position and stranded 14 base runners. Neither hit with a runner in scoring position drove in a run.

 

The Flying Tigers went up 4-0 in the second inning on a RBI single by Mike Rothenberg and a two-out, three-run homer by J.D. McLaughlin off Mets reliever Javier Atencio.

 

The Mets got a run back in the seventh inning when Jacob Reimer hit an infield single and third baseman Luke Gold threw the ball away, allowing Kevin Villavicencio to score.

 

Lakeland got the run back in the home seventh on a two-out solo home run by Seth Stephenson off Christopher Vasquez.

 

The Mets put together a rally in the ninth trailing 5-1. Jose Peraza, Wilfredo Lara and Reimer hit consecutive singles with one out to load the bases. Vincent Perozo came to the plate as the tying run and notched a run-scoring ground out to make it 5-2. Jose Hernandez followed by drawing walk to reload the bases.

With the tying run on base, reliever Max Alba struck out Jefrey De Los Santos swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the game. Alba needed 36 pitches to get through the inning.

 

Layonel Ovalles served as the opener and pitched a perfect first inning on 10 pitches.

 

Atencio took the loss to drop to 0-8 in 10 appearances. After allowing four runs in the second inning he didn't allow any runs over his final three innings. Overall he was charged with four runs on five hits in 4.0 innings.

 

Vasquez pitched the final three innings for the Mets, allowing one run on the Stephenson homer.

 

The Flying Tigers used four pitchers. Jackson Jobe, the No. 3 pick by Detroit in the 2021 draft, made the start on a minor league rehab assignment. Jobe (back) pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out three. Chris Mauloni got the final out of the third.

 

Joe Miller pitched 4.0 innings to get the win. He allowed one unearned run and struck out seven.

 

Cleiverth Perez pitched a scoreless eighth and Alba tossed the ninth.

 

Peraza (hip flexor strain) went 3 for 5 with a double in his second game on a minor league rehab assignment.

 

Reimer and Yeral Martinez has two hits apiece.

 

The Mets (3-11, 27-52) are off the next four days to coincide with the MLB All Star break. They return to the diamond on Friday to host the Jupiter Hammerheads at Clover Park. The teams will resume their suspended game from Sunday, June 25^th at 4:30 p.m. The Mets are trailing 1-0 as the visiting team in the top of the fourth inning. It is a seven-inning game. Upon completion, the teams will break for 30 minutes before playing another seven-inning game.