St. Lucie 6, Charlotte 2

PORT ST. LUCIE -- A strong starting pitching performance and some late insurance paid big dividends for the St. Lucie Mets on Tuesday. The Charlotte Stone Crabs offense was unable to get on track as the Mets took a 6-2 victory at Digital Domain Park.

Angel Cuan (1-0) allowed just two hits, both fifth inning singles, over seven scoreless innings of work. The lefty walked one and struck out four men to earn the victory for St Lucie.

The Mets offense added four runs in the eighth inning to pad their lead. As it turned out, those runs would prove to be the difference in the game when all was said and done.

Wilking Rodriguez (0-1) was charged with the loss, though he was not roughed up. Battling his control, Rodriguez allowed just two runs on four hits over 4 2/3 innings of work in his 2012 debut.

With Cuan out of the game, Charlotte's bats finally broke through in the eighth inning. Luke Bailey tripled and scored to get the Stone Crabs on the board against Mets reliever Taylor Whitenton. Bailey added a sacrifice fly in the ninth, but that would be all the offense could manage in the loss.

Third baseman Riccio Torrez collected a single in the fifth that broke up Cuan's no-hit bid. That base hit also gives Torrez a five-game hit streak to open the season.

By holding off the Stone Crabs (3-2) for the second night in a row, the Mets (4-1) moved into first place all alone in the FSL South standings.

The Stone Crabs will turn to lefty Grayson Garvin in Wednesday's finale as they attempt to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Mets. St. Lucie will counter with the right-hander Cory Mazzoni. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.