PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. (July 17, 2019) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs were down to their final strike Wednesday, but managed to come back to stun the St. Lucie Mets 4-3 in 10 innings at First Data Field.With St Lucie (50-45, 18-11) leading 3-2 in the top of the ninth,
PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. (July 17, 2019) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs were down to their final strike Wednesday, but managed to come back to stun the St. Lucie Mets 4-3 in 10 innings at First Data Field.
With St Lucie (50-45, 18-11) leading 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Stone Crabs (57-36, 22-5) first baseman Kaleo Johnson singled to right center to lead off the inning. With Zach Rutherford pinch running, a wild pitch moved him to second with one out. Joey Roach then grounded out, advancing Rutherford to third with two outs. With Jermaine Palacios in a two-strike hole, he ripped an RBI single to left to score Rutherford and tie the game 3-3.
With the game still tied in the top of the tenth, Michael Smith grounded out to advance the automatic runner, Jake Palomaki to third. After an intentional walk to Wander Franco , Ronaldo Hernandez lined a base hit into center to score Palomaki and give the Stone Crabs a 4-3 lead.
Charlotte reliever Jack Labosky (1-4) worked two scoreless innings to earn his first High-A win. Labosky struck out two and managed to strand the automatic runner in the tenth to earn the Stone Crabs a series win.
The Crabs scored early on a Garrett Whitley home run in the second to take a 1-0 lead. However, the Mets battled back for runs in the second and third against Charlotte starter Tommy Romero .
Still down 2-1 in the top of the sixth, Franco singled before racing around to score on a Hernandez liner to the gap to tie the game at two.
In the bottom of the seventh, Matt Winaker dumped a single into center to score Carlos Cortes and give St. Lucie a 3-2 lead.
Charlotte continues to boast the best second half record (22-5) in Minor League Baseball and now lead the FSL South by five games over St. Lucie.
The Stone Crabs will look to sweep St. Lucie at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. Michael Plassmeyer (4-2, 2.29) takes the ball for Charlotte, against Kyle Wilson (4-7, 3.77) of the Mets. Coverage starts at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
