Charlotte Stone Crabs fall to St. Lucie in game two of doubleheader

The Game: St. Lucie went deep three times as the Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the St. Lucie Mets 8-4 in game two of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Tradition Field. Jose Mejias struggled early in his first game back from the disabled list, allowing five runs in the first inning. Reese Havens got the scoring started with an RBI double to score Hector Pellot. Then the Mets loaded the bases for Carlos Guzman who delivered a grand slam to give the Mets a 5-0 lead.

The Stone Crabs posted a run in the top of the second on an RBI single by Matt Hall to score Omar Luna. But the Mets matched the run by scoring one of their own when Zach Lutz hit a solo home run to left field.

The Mets struck again in the fifth inning but pushing two more runs across the plate. The inning got started off a solo home run by Reese Havens. Then Zach Lutz singled, Carlos Guzman doubled and Brahiam Maldonado drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Richard Pena followed with a single to right to score Lutz for the second run of the inning. Austin Hinkle battled back to retire the next three batters and leave the bases loaded prevent further runs from scoring.

The Stone Crabs started a rally in the sixth inning. Reid Fronk, John Matulia and Christian Lopez picked up RBI’s in the inning as the Stone Crabs pushed across three runs in the inning. But it was too little to late and the Stone Crabs took the loss to the Mets 8-4.

Jose Mejias had another tough outing surrendering 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits while striking out 2 and walking 1 in 3 innings of work. Austin Hinkle pitched 2 innings of relief and allowed 2 runs off 4 hits with 2 strikeouts and 1 walk. Justin Garcia threw the final frame only allowing 1 hit. Nicholas Waechter was the winning pitcher for St. Lucie.


What Went Right: Omar Luna; 3 for 3 with a run scored.

What Went Wrong: Jose Mejias; rocked for his second consecutive game allowing a combined 11 earned runs in process (5 tonight and 6 against Dunedin on 6/13).

A Look Ahead: The Stone Crabs travel to Dunedin to play a four game series against the Dunedin Blue Jays (0-0). This marks the beginning of the second half of the FSL season and all teams start over with a clean slate. Darin Downs is scheduled to pitch against Dunedin.