Hammerheads stun St. Lucie Mets with 6-5 walk-off win

 

                Ginn fires 4.0 scoreless innings in third start

 

JUPITER, Fla. (June 15, 2021) – The Jupiter Hammerheads stunned the St. Lucie Mets 6-5 with a walk-off win at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Tuesday night.

 

Alexander Ramirez hit a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to extend the Mets lead to 5-2. However, the Hammerheads would score two runs in the bottom of the eighth and two more in the bottom of the ninth to win.

 

Walks played a crucial role in the game. Three Mets relievers combined to walk seven batters and five of those would come around to score. Two walked batters with one out in the eighth scored on a single and sac fly to cut the Mets lead to 5-4.

 

Cameron Barstadt drew a leadoff walk from reliever Willy Taveras in the bottom of the ninth. Two batters later Diowill Burgos singled to set up runners at first and second. That brought up Angeudis Santos, who ripped a pitch down the right field line for a two-run walk-off double.

 

The Mets scored their four runs prior to the Ramirez home run with the help of two errors. With Jupiter leading 2-0 in the sixth inning, Hammerheads first baseman Luis Arcaya fielded a Jaylen Palmer grounder and threw wildly home trying to get a force out, allowing two runs to score to tie the game.

 

Jupiter second baseman Osiris Johnson missed a popup with two outs in the seventh inning that let in two more runs that gave the Mets a 4-2 lead.

 

The Hammerheads committed five errors in the game while the Mets did not make an error.

 

The Mets missed their chances throughout the game to break the contest open. They went 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 base runners.

 

Mets starter J.T. Ginn was brilliant in his third start coming back from Tommy John surgery. He fired 4.0 scoreless innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. Only one batter reached base against Ginn on a two-out double in the first inning. He retired the final 10 batters he faced.

 

Ginn has allowed just one run over 11.0 innings since being activated from the Injured List.

 

Branden Fryman, Joe Suozzi and Matt O’Neill had two hits apiece for the Mets.

 

The Mets (20-17) and Hammerheads (19-18) play the second game of their series at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Wednesday at 12 p.m.