Fort Myers 4, St. Lucie 1
Even with Kevin Plawecki‘s return to the starting lineup, the St. Lucie offense continues to stumble. Those problems at the plate have manifested into a four-game losing streak, with Sunday’s 4-1 defeat at Fort Myers the latest miscue for the Mets (4-7), who now sit in the cellar of the FSL South Division to begin the second half of the season.
The game was called in the sixth inning following a second rain delay, but the Miracle had already done enough damage off St. Lucie starter Rainy Lara and reliever Randy Fontanez. Lara (2-3) took the loss after allowing three runs — two earned — on six hits and one walk to go along with four strikeouts over five innings. The righty is the second Mets starter to drop under .500 in the past two games, joining Alex Panteliodis (2-3) after he was saddled with a loss Saturday.
Lara was coming off an impressive performance against Bradenton in his previous outing in which he tossed 5.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts among the 25 batters he faced. However, his strikeout total Sunday matched his lowest output in six starts with St. Lucie.
In a welcome sight, Plawecki was back in the lineup — hitting fifth and serving as the catcher — after a two-game absence because of a minor hip issue. The 22-year-old went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, just his second hitless showing in nine games since his promotion from Low-A Savannah. He is still carrying a robust .361 batting average and .889 OPS.
The Mets managed only four hits in the loss and have now totaled a meager five runs over their past three games. T.J. Rivera and Matt den Dekker each recorded a double, and Rivera was the only player to cross the plate for St. Lucie. den Dekker finished 1-for-3 with an RBI in what was likely his final game with the Class-A club; he is expected to report to Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday, according to ESPN.com.
Domingo Tapia (2-4, 4.19 ERA) will look to prevent a sweep by the Miracle when he takes the mound for the series finale on Monday. Tyler Duffey (0-3, 6.65) is scheduled to start for Fort Myers.
Key Stats
T.J. Rivera: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B
Matt den Dekker: 1-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Gilbert Gomez: 1-for-2
Rainy Lara: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, 4 K