Stone Crabs Pick Up Two Wins Against the Mets

The Charlotte Stone Crabs won two games against the St. Lucie Mets on Monday at Digital Domain Park. The Stone Crabs cruised to a 7-0 win in the first game and won 7-3 in game two.

Game one was the completion of Sunday's suspended game. The game was resumed with a 6-0 Stone Crabs lead with two outs in the top of the eighth. The six runs came in two innings on Sunday.

The first three runs came in the second inning. Matt Fields and Greg Sexton led off the inning with back to back singles. Jake Jefferies reached on an error to load the bases. Reid Fronk the singled to center, scoring Fields and Sexton. Isaias Velasquez then drove home Jefferies to make it 3-0.

The Stone Crabs picked up three more runs in the top of the eighth inning. Tim Beckham singled to center to lead off the inning. Beckham then stole second and later advanced to third on a pop fly by Stephen Vogt. The pinch hitting Kyeong Kang then drew a walk to put runners on the corners. Sexton doubled to left, scoring Beckham and moving Kang to third. Fronk then picked up RBI's three and four on the night with a single to right. The lights then went out and the rains came forcing the game to be suspended until Monday.

When play resumed Monday, the Stone Crabs scored again in the ninth inning. Matt Hall drew a walk to lead off the inning. Then Chris Murrill singled to third. Beckham drew a walk to load the bases. Vogt then hit into a double play, scoring Hall and giving the Stone Crabs the 7-0 margin of victory.

Joe Cruz earned the victory, pitching 7 shut-out innings with 4 hits, 3 strikeouts and a walk. Rayner Oliveros pitched the final 2 innings, no runs, no hits and 2 strikeouts.

In game two, the Stone Crabs picked up right where they left off. They struck for three runs in the first inning. Beckham drew a walk then advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch. Matt Spring drove him home with a single to center. Fronk then drew a walk, moving Spring to second. Sexton drove both runners home with a double to right, giving the Stone Crabs a 3-0 lead.

St. Lucie reached the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Wilmer Flores singles to right to lead off the inning. Flores would later score on a single by Kai Gronauer for their first run of the game.

The Mets would then tie the game in the third. Richard Lucas and Hector Pellot singled followed by a walk to Jordany Valdespin to load the bases. Juan Lagares the drove home a run with a ground ball to second. The MLB rehabbing Carlos Beltran drove home the tying run with an RBI single to center to tie the game 3-3.

The Stone Crabs regained the lead in the fifth inning. Murrill singled to center to lead off the inning. Murrill then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Vogt plated the go ahead run with a single to score Murrill and give them a 4-3 lead.

Charlotte pushed across another run in the eighth inning. Sexton singled to right then moved into scoring position by stealing second. Michael Sheridan drove home the run with an RBI single to center to give them a 5-3 lead.

The Stone Crabs picked up some insurance in the ninth inning. Murrill singled to center to get things started. Stephen Vogt then singled to right to give the Stone Crabs runners on the corners. Spring drove home Murrill with a single to left. Vogt then scored on a double by Reid Fronk to give the Stone Crabs a 7-3 win.

Frank De Los Santos picked up the win in the second game, pitching 7 innings and allowing 3 runs on 6 hits with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks. Zach Quate picked up the save with 2 no-hit innings of relief, striking out 3.

The Stone Crabs wrap up the series against the Mets on Tuesday at Digital Domain Park. Shane Dyer (4-4, 2.45) will make the start for the Stone Crabs against Kyle Allen (5-5, 5.09) of St. Lucie.