Fort Myers falls 8-2 in opener against St. Lucie
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were defeated by the St. Lucie Mets by a score of 8-2 Tuesday night at Clover Park.
Irvin Nunez connected on a pair of doubles late in the game, but the Mighty Mussels (47-42, 10-13) never recovered from an early deficit.
St. Lucie (42-47, 9-14) opened the scoring with a successful double steal in the second inning. The Mets then exploded for four more runs in the third off of Mussels’ starter Eric Hammond (0-3), taking a 5-0 lead. A two-run double from Trey Snyder was the big swing in a frame that saw nine Mets come to the plate. Hammond exited after 2.2 innings and threw just 26 of his 55 pitches for strikes. Nick McAuliffe recorded the final out in the frame, while allowing the inherited runner to score. Four of the five runs against Hammond were earned.
The Mussels threatened in the first two frames but left a pair of base runners aboard in each inning. St. Lucie pitching went on a run, retiring 11 consecutive batters from the end of the second through the middle of the fifth when Ramiro Dominguez drew a two-out walk.
McAuliffe exited after 1.1 innings, throwing 15 of his 26 pitches for strikes. Dylan Questad took over in the fifth. The Mets added a run on a sacrifice fly from Antonio Jimenez, extending their lead to 6-0.
St. Lucie designated hitter Julio Zayas homered in the sixth to make it 7-0. Questad worked two innings, his longest outing in a dozen appearances this season.
Leading off the seventh, Nunez ended his 10-pitch at-bat with a double down the left field line. Ricardo Paez followed with a double of his own, putting the Mussels on the board. Fort Myers had just two hits through the first six innings before connecting on the back-to-back doubles off of Emilio Obispo (5-2). An RBI groundout from Jayson Bass made it 7-2.
In the eighth, Zayas connected on his second home run of the game, this time off Mike McKenna, to move the score to 8-2.
The series continues today, July 22. Callan Fang (1.00) starts for the Mussels, opposite Jose Lopez (4.00). First pitch is scheduled for 11:10 a.m. with coverage beginning at 11 a.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.