St. Lucie 6 (23-28), Tampa 2 (29-28) F/10 Box Score

• RHP Justin Dunn (2-3, 2.36 ERA): 7 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 10 K
• RHP Ezequiel Zabaleta (W, 1-0, 3.00 ERA): 3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 K

Draft night turned out to be a pretty good night for a couple of the more well-known Mets’ prospects. Starting on the pitching side of things, Justin Dunn turned in what might have been the best outing of his professional career. Dunn, who was the Mets’ first round pick in 2016, tossed seven brilliant innings on just 93 strikes, 58 of them for strikes. Dunn allowed just two hits and a walk, and struck out ten Tarpons.

Dunn’s superb outing was his second consecutive scoreless outing following a clunker on May 22 when he gave up five runs in less than five innings. Overall, Dunn has been very solid this season in St. Lucie, pitching to a 2.36 ERA in his nine starts and has struck out 51 batters in 45.2 innings, compared to just 15 walks. Dunn spent all of 2017 with St. Lucie as well, so a promotion definitely seems to be in the future for Dunn.

Dunn’s outing was spoiled when Mandy Alvarez took Ezequiel Zabaleta deep in the eighth inning. It was Zabaleta’s full-season debut, as he pitched in Kingsport in 2017. The Colombian right-hander settled down after the homer, and pitched well for the remainder of his three innings.

• Andres Gimenez SS: 2-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K, .291/.362/.463
• Michael Paez 3B: 3-for-4, 2B, .264/.329/.399
• Desmond Lindsay CF: 1-for-4, 3B, RBI, BB, .222/.345/.293
• Anthony Dimino DH: 2-for-4, 2B, BB, .279/.322/.374

On the other side of the ball, it turned out to be a very good night for the Mets’ top prospect Andres Gimenez. The shortstop started the night 0-for-3 before blasting a solo shot to right field, breaking a scoreless tie.

When the game went into extra innings tied at one, Gimenez again came to bat, this time with two men on and one out. This time, the youngster decided to take one out to left field, blasting a three-run shot for his second of the night. The blast put the Mets’ ahead for good.

Following Gimenez’ second blast, the rest of the Mets’ offense went to work. Michael Paez immediately doubled, his third hit of the game, and Desmond Lindsay tripled him home. J.J. Franco followed with a sacrifice fly, and the Mets all of a sudden had five runs on the board. Anthony Dimino reached base three times, serving as the designated hitter.

Andres Gimenez #Mets top prospect
2 HR – pull off 95 in from RHP and oppo off LHP mid 90’s pic.twitter.com/JUlm4lxKWQ

— Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) June 5, 2018

Obviously, the offensive story of the night was Andres Gimenez. At 19, Gimenez is 3.5 years younger than the average player in the Florida State League. The left-handed swinger is now batting .291 for the season, and that number has only risen. Gimenez has hit .371 in his last ten ballgames. His OPS currently sits at .825, and he has already stolen 19 bases in 23 tries. Gimenez was recently named the No. 74 best prospect in baseball by Baseball America.

DSL Mets1 15 (1-1), DSL Angels 1 (1-1) 6 Box Score

• Adrian Hernandez CF, 0-for-3, 3 BB, 3 R
• David Lozano 2B, 1-for-4, 3B, RBI, BB, 2 R

The Mets’ first DSL squad scored 15 runs on just ten hits in this victory. All but one of the Mets’ starting players notched a hit. Julio Rene came off the bench to play left field, and doubled in both his at bats. Seven different players recorded an RBI.

• RHP Benito Garcia – 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 2 K

Six different pitchers got into the game for the Mets, combining to allow eight hits and 11 walks, but striking out 13. Garcia got the win in his pro debut.

DSL Mets2 11 (2-0), DSL D-Backs2 9 (0-2) Box Score

• Frederico Polanco SS, 4-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI, 3 R
• Stanley Consuegra CF, 2-for-4, 3 RBI

In the second DSL matchup, the Mets’ second squad also mashed. They put up 11 runs on 12 hits. The big performance came from shortstop Federico Polanco, who had four hits, including a triple, and scored three runs. His keystone partner, Felix Valerio, homered from the leadoff spot.

• LHP Jefferson Escorcha – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K, Save

The pitching for the Mets was not good, as Ramon Guzman got knocked out in the second and the team allowed nine runs overall. Antonio Villalba had two-and-one-third scoreless innings in relief.