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Lawley Hammers 24th Long Ball En Route To 5-4 St. Lucie Win

By Former Writers

August 11, 2013 No comments

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St. Lucie 5, Palm Beach 4

A return to Tradition Field appeared to be the elixir for the St. Lucie Mets. Losers of three straight, including an abbreviated two-game sweep at Bradenton, the Mets captured their first win in a week with a 5-4 victory over Palm Beach in 10 innings on Saturday night. After winning its first three games this month, St. Lucie dropped its next three and fell to third place in the Florida State League South Division in the process.

That misfortune was reversed in the opener of a three-game series against the Cardinals. First baseman Rylan Sandoval singled home catcher Kevin Plawecki in the bottom of the 10th — the club’s third hit of the inning — to send the Mets to their first win since Aug. 3 vs. Clearwater.

Plawecki finished 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and an RBI — his third multi-hit outing in the past five games to push his batting average to .326. Leadoff hitter Kyle Johnson was the only other St. Lucie player to record multiple hits, as he went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Third baseman Robbie Shields was the only player in the starting lineup not to register a hit.

Mets starting pitcher Hansel Robles allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts, but was able to complete six innings for the first time since April 21 at Charlotte, an amazing stretch of nine starts. He has fanned exactly four batters in each of his past four outings and remains 5-2 on the season following the no-decision on Saturday.

The St. Lucie bullpen shined after Robles departed and held the Cardinals scoreless over the final four innings. Bret Mitchell fanned four of the six batters he faced in his two innings of work, and T.J. Chism had one strikeout in two innings to register the win, his first of the season.

Outfielder Dustin Lawley continues to hammer Class A pitching and launched his 24th homer of the season on a three-run shot in the third inning. He has gone deep four times in his past eight games, padding his total atop the FSL leaderboard. Lawley has also tallied 10 RBI in that eight-game span.

The two clubs play the second of the series Saturday with Alex Panteliodis (6-4, 4.11 ERA) taking the hill for the Mets. He is scheduled to be opposed by Kyle Hald (5-7, 4.73) for the Cardinals.

Key Stats

Kyle Johnson: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 2B

Kevin Plawecki: 2-for-4, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Dustin Lawley: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Jayce Boyd: 1-for-5, 1 2B

Rylan Sandoval: 1-for-5, 1 RBI

Gilbert Gomez: 1-for-4, 1 R

Hansel Robles: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 4 ER, 4 K

Bret Mitchell: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 4 K

T.J. Chism: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 2 K