Tampa 3 - St. Lucie 2

The St. Lucie Mets squandered several opportunities in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Yankees on Tuesday at Steinbrenner Field.

The loss was the third straight overall for the Mets and the sixth in a row against the Yankees.

Greg Bird’s solo home run on the first pitch from John Lannan in the bottom of the sixth broke a 2-2 tie proved to to be the difference maker.

However, the Mets had their chances. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, Jared King tied the game when he scored from third on Kyle Haynes’ wild pitch. That same wild pitch moved Cam Maron from second to third with no outs.

But the Mets couldn’t get Maron home. After Aderlin Rodriguez walked, Gavin Cecchini struck out, Jeff McNeil lined out to shallow center and Eudy Pina flew out to center to strand Maron 90 feet from home.

Earlier in the game, the Mets had the bases loaded with one out but couldn’t score a run when Cecchini struck out and McNeil grounded out to end the fourth.

Tampa’s first two runs were unearned and scored in the third. Lannan started the frame by striking out Claudio Custodio, but Custodio reached first safely as the pitch was wild. Lannan appeared to have Custodio picked off of first, but Aderlin Rodriguez dropped the ball and Custodio went to second. Custodio advanced to third on a single by Jose Rosario.

It looked like Lannan got a ground ball double play to get out the jam unharmed, but umpire Brennan Miller ruled that Phil Evans didn’t hold the bag at second and Custodio scored.

Later in the inning Rodriguez made a fielding error at first that allowed Rosario to score and make it 2-0.

The Mets committed three errors in the third inning.

Lannan took the loss despite making his best start of the season. He limited the Yankees to one earned run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out a season high six batters.

Haynes earned the win despite walking two and throwing three wild pitches in just one inning.

Seth Lugo retired all eight batters he faced after taking over for Lannan in the sixth.

After the sixth inning the Mets never threatened. Taylor Garrison and Cesar Vargas combined the strike out seven of the last eight St. Lucie hitters. - team press release