St. Lucie 11 - Jupiter 6

 The St. Lucie Mets scored six straight runs from the sixth inning and beyond to pull away from the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday at Tradition Field.

The Mets pounded out 17 hits, including eight for extra bases, to club the Hammerheads 11-6.

Leading the way was T.J. Rivera, who went 3 for 5 and was a triple shy of the cycle. Rivera’s solo homer in the fourth broke a 3-3 tie. It was his second of the year.

Brandon Nimmo went 2 for 4 with an RBI and he has now hit safely in eight straight. He has five multi hit games in his last six contest.

Dilson Herrera added a home run and Aderlin Rodriguez crushed two doubles.

The game was close early and in the middle innings. There were three ties and three lead changes by the time Jupiter scored two runs in the sixth to tie the game 5-5.

The Mets broke the tie for good in their half of the sixth. Chipper Smith retired the first two batters but then walked Herrera and Nimmo to bring up Rivera. Rivera drove a 3-1 pitch into center to score Herrera and make it 6-5. Rodriguez followed with a two-run double of the top of the wall in left to make it 8-5.

St. Lucie poured in on in the seventh on RBI base knocks by Eudy Pina and Nimmo. Pina added a two-out triple in the eighth to make it 11-5.

Beck Wheeler threw 1 1/3 innings of relief and struck out three to get his first win. Starter Matt Koch allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The loss went to Smith, who hadn’t allowed a run this season until Tuesday.

Everyone in the Mets lineup had a hit. Six players - Herrera, Nimmo, Rivera, Rodriguez, Pina and Phillip Evans - had multi hit games. Cam Maron, Maikis De La Cruz and Gilbert Gomez had a hit apiece.

The Mets (7-5) have now collected a whopping 30 hits against the Hammerheads (5-7) in two games. The two teams will meet for the rubber match of their three-game series on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.