Mets hang on 5-3 in opener at Clearwater

CLEARWATER, Fla. (June 29, 2018) – The St. Lucie Mets raced out to a five-run lead and held on to beat the Clearwater Threshers 5-3 on Friday at Spectrum Field.

Andres Gimenez opened the scoring in the first inning with a solo home run. Luis Carpio belted a two-run homer with two outs in the second to make it 3-0. Both players tied Mike Paez for the team lead with five home runs.

Dash Winningham scored on a throwing error and Gene Cone hit a RBI sac fly in the fourth to put the Mets up 5-0.

That was enough run support for starter David Peterson. The big lefty navigated the first five innings scoreless despite walking four batters. Finally in the sixth inning the Threshers scored when Jose Pujols launched a two-run homer.

Peterson retired the next two batters before giving way to the bullpen. He allowed two runs and three hits over 5.2 innings to earn the win. He walked five batters.

Matt Pobereyko pitched 1.1 perfect innings of relief to get carry the 5-2 lead to the eighth inning.

Austin McGeorge escaped a jam in the eighth by stranding runners at the corners. He struck out Pujols then induced an inning-ending double play from Edgar Cabral.

The Threshers put together a major threat in the ninth against Stephen Villines. The first three batters singled to load the bases. However, Villines settled in and retired the next three batters in order to finish off the game. The only run he surrendered came on a sac fly.

Paez and Anthony Dimino had two hits apiece.

Clearwater starter Mauricio Llovera took the loss. He gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings.

The Mets won back-to-back games for the first time since May 31-June 1.