Sprock, Daugherty power Mussels past Mets, 6-3
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FORT MYERS -- Ryan Sprock and Ian Daugherty both left the yard, as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels defeated the St. Lucie Mets 6-3 Thursday night at Hammond Stadium.
The Mussels (51-72, 24-35) have now taken two straight games over the Mets (76-52, 42-21) and hold a 2-1 advantage in the series.
Leading off the top of the first, St. Lucie second baseman Trey Snyder singled up the middle. He then stole second before scoring on an opposite field knock from Antonio Jimenez. Jimenez stole second and third and promptly scored on a sacrifice fly from AJ Salgado, making it 2-0 Mets just three batters into the game. After a single from Randy Guzman, Mussels' starter Christian Becerra settled in and retired the next seven Mets' hitters while picking up four strikeouts.
Becerra kept the Mets off the board the rest of his outing, spinning four innings and allowing two runs on six hits. He didn’t issue a walk and totaled four strikeouts.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Daugherty connected on a solo home run to left, making it 2-1. The blast was his second of the season and his first at Hammond Stadium.
The next inning, Quentin Young and Enrique Jimenez each walked to put two aboard. With two outs, Sprock blasted a fastball from Mets's starter Daviel Hurtado over the wall in right, putting Fort Myers ahead 4-2.
In the fifth, Daugherty and Bruin Agbayani each drew a walk. Young plated a run on a sacrifice fly to left. Later in the frame, Sprock worked a bases loaded walk to make it 6-2.
Michael Hilker (1-0) worked two perfect innings in his professional debut. The Twins' 20th round draft pick threw 16 of his 24 pitches for strikes while recording three punch outs.
Zander Sechrist pitched the seventh inning for Fort Myers. The righty allowed one unearned run on a pair of hits in his only inning of work.
Sam Rochard (S, 2) entered in the top of the eighth inning and walked the first batter he faced. He then induced three straight fly balls to retire the next three Met batters.
Rochard punched out back-to-back Mets to begin the ninth, before securing the Mussel victory after getting Kevin Villavicencio to fly out to right field to end the game.
The final series of the season continues today at 7:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium. Michael Carpenter (0-6, 5.18) will get the ball for Fort Myers in game four of the series against St. Lucie. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.