St. Lucie 5, Clearwater 4

Domingo Tapia took the mound for St. Lucie on Thursday evening and struggled with his command throughout most of the game, allowing five hits and five walks. He allowed a two-out RBI double in the second to Logan Moore for the first run against him, but it was the fourth inning that really gave him issues. Tapia actually surrendered no hits in the inning but walked four batters, culminating in an RBI walk for Kelly Dugan. His command issues brought up his pitch count and prompted him to leave after just four innings.

The Mets staked Tapia to a 4 – 1 lead after the third inning, thanks to some timely hitting by Jonathan Clark, Dustin Lawley, and Dimas Ponce.

Angel Cuan came in and pitched the next four innings in relief of Tapia, and allowed two earned runs of his own. He was touched up for a two-run home run via Maikel Franco in the bottom of the seventh that forced the game into a tie.

T.J. Rivera came through for an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning, however, and it would be enough for St. Lucie to pick up the win. Chasen Bradford and T.J. Chism combined to finish the ninth, with Chism picking up his sixth save.

Key Stats

T.J. Rivera: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Dustin Lawley: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R

Dimas Ponce: 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 R

Jonathan Clark: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Domingo Tapia: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 2 ER, 4 K

Angel Cuan: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 ER, 4 K

Chasen Bradford: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

T.J. Chism: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB