St. Lucie 5 - Charlotte 2

The St. Lucie Mets scored four runs in the seventh to rally past the Charlotte Stone Crabs for a 5-2 victory on Tuesday at Tradition Field.

With the Mets trailing 2-0 in the seventh, Eudy Pina unloaded the bases with a three-run double off of Austin Pruitt to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Jeff McNeil followed with an RBI single, and Cam Maron drove in Gavin Cecchini with a sac fly in the eighth to put the Mets ahead 5-2.

Mets starter Matt Koch limited the Stone Crabs to two runs in a season-high 7 2/3 innings. Koch also struck out a season-high eight batters on his way to his ninth win of the season.

Ryan Fraser got the final four outs for the Mets to pick up his second save.

Tuesday’s game was a rematch of last Wednesday’s pitching matchup between Koch and Pruitt at Charlotte Sport Park. In the game last Wednesday, the Crabs led for a majority of the time but the Mets rallied for five run in the seventh for a 6-2 win.

It was eerily similar on Tuesday. The Crabs scored two run on four hits against Koch in the second inning (Koch gave up a two-run homer to Tyler Goeddel last Wednesday in the second), but that was all Koch gave up. He stranded runners and second and third  by striking out Johnny Field and was on his way.

Pruitt was cruising through six shutout innings with six strikeouts, but Mets finally got to him the third time through the order in the seventh. Cam Maron and Jared King started the frame with singles to right field. After Phil Evans struck out, Cole Frenzel singled to right to load the bases.

Pina drove the first pitch he saw to left field, scoring Maron, King and Frenzel to put the Mets on top for good. Pina scored one batter later when McNeil singled to right field off of reliever Jordan Harrison.

Maikis De La Cruz, Maron and Frenzel had two-hits apiece for the Mets.

The Mets (72-61, 32-32) face the Stone Crabs one last time on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Gates at Tradition Field open at 5:30 p.m. Hot dogs, beer and soda only cost $1.- team press release