Johnny Field’s grand slam in the ninth inning propelled the Charlotte Stone Crabs to an 8-5 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Monday at Tradition Field.
The Mets held off several rallies by the Stone Crabs and took a 5-4 lead to the top of the ninth. The Stone Crabs finally broke through.
Granden Goetzman led off with a single against T.J. Chism. Chism then struck out Jake DePew and looked like he had a second out when Gilbert Gomez dove for a ball in center off the bat of Juniel Querecuto. But the ball popped out of Gomez’s glove and runners were at first and second with one out.
Tommy Coyle then drew a walk to load the bases. Field came up and launched a 1-1 pitch from Chism well over the wall in left for the go-ahead grand slam and the Crabs led 8-5.
Zach Cooper worked around a one-out hit by Maikis De La Cruz in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game and get his seventh save.
Nick Sawyer, who threw one pitch to get the final out of the eighth, was credited with the win.
The Mets jumped on the Stone Crabs early, taking a 4-0 lead. However, they missed two big opportunities to score runs in bunches.
In the second inning, the Mets loaded the bases with no outs but could only get one run when Phil Evans grounded into a double play.
The Mets plated three more in the third. De La Cruz scored from third on a missed pickoff play at first and Jairo Perez and Jared King had RBI hits to make it 4-0.
It unraveled in the fifth. Mets starter Angel Cuan got a double play ball but could not get the third out to preserve the lead. He walked Marty Gantt, and Goetzman followed with a single. Jake DePew belted a two-run double to make it 4-2. DePew scored on Querecuto’s single and the Crabs were down 4-3.
Coyle appeared to fly out to end the top of the fifth, but Gomez dropped the ball in center. His throw back to the infield went past three defenders to the backstop, allowing Querecuto to score all the way from first and tie the game, 4-4.
The Mets appeared to be poised to respond in a big way in the bottom of the fifth. Again they loaded the bases with no outs, but Perez grounded into a double play and the Mets only got one run out of the inning. They led 5-4 but did not score again.
Relievers Julian Hilario and Robby Coles combined to strand four runners in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to preserve the one-run lead, but the Mets couldn’t finish off the Crabs in the ninth.
Offensively, the Mets outhit the Stone Crabs 11-9. De La Cruz and L.J. Mazzilli each had three hits.
Perez and King had two-hits apiece.
Cuan gave up four runs, three earned, in five innings. He faced the minimum through the first four innings.
Crabs starter Reinaldo Lopez was tagged for eight hits and five earned runs in five innings. - team press release
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