PRESS RELEASE - St. Lucie Mets fall to Tortugas in extras on Opening Night

 

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (April 7, 2023) – The Daytona Tortugas spoiled Opening Night at Clover Park with a 7-6 win in 11 innings over the St. Lucie Mets.

 

Leo Balcazar hit a run-scoring ground out in the top of the 11^th to plate Malvin Valdez for a 7-6 Daytona lead. In the bottom of the 11^th Tortugas reliever Joseph Menefee recorded a strikeout, ground out and pop out to prevent the Mets from scoring the free base runner and tying the game.

 

The Mets trailed 4-0 early but rallied back to take a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning. Reliever Brian Gursky retired the first two batters of the ninth but Balcazar kept the game going by taking a walk. He advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on two-strike double by Cam Collier to tie the game.

 

After Daytona scored a run in the top of the 10^th, the Mets answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. Carlos Dominguez hit a RBI single to make it 6-6. Jacob Reimer hustled to third on the play and the Mets were set up with the winning run 90 feet away and no outs. However, Tortugas pitcher Patrick Murphy got an infield pop out and a double play to keep the Mets from scoring the winning run.

 

Reimer, the Mets fourth round draft pick in 2022, went 3 for 4 and reached base four times in his debut.

 

Jett Williams, the Mets first round pick (14^th overall) last summer, clobbered a solo home run 419 feet in his first game with the team.

 

Dominguez went 3 for 5. Junior Tilien and Kevin Villavicencio had two hits apiece.

 

The Mets outhit the Tortugas 12-7, but Mets pitchers combined to walk the Tortguas 11 times.

 

Mets starter Jordany Ventura walked six of the 12 batters he faced. He lasted 1.2 innings and was charged with three runs.

 

Joey Lancellotti followed Ventura with 1.1 perfect innings.

 

Jawilme Ramirez excelled over 4.2 innings of relief. He allowed just one run on a solo homer and struck out eight.

 

For Daytona, Collier went 2 for 3 with a double and three walks.

 

Tortugas starter Lyon Richardson, who is on the Cincinnati Reds 40-man roster, struck out seven batters over three scoreless innings.

 

The Mets and Tortugas play game 2 of their three-game series at Clover Park on Saturday. First pitch is 6:10 p.m. As part of Donate Life Night the Mets will wear special jerseys that will be auctioned off to raise funds for Legacy Donor Services Foundation. Fans can bid on the autographed game-worn jerseys through April 18^th at stluciemets.com/auction.