Mussels Fall to Mets 3-2

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 2, 2024) – The St. Lucie Mets took a 3-1 series lead with a 3-2 win over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Friday night at Hammond Stadium.

Mussels’ (51-46, 20-12) starter Jose Olivares went two innings in his return from the IL, allowing one run on three hits while striking out one. His fastball reached 96.2 mph.

Adrian Bohorquez was the first man out of the bullpen and was excellent in his Low-A debut. The 19-year-old tossed three shutout innings and struck out four while allowing just one hit. He topped out at 96.8 mph with his fastball.

St. Lucie (34-66, 12-22) opened the contest with a leadoff triple from Boston Baro. Yonatan Henriquez then followed with an RBI groundout to make it 1-0.

Still trailing 1-0 in the fifth, Maddux Houghton doubled to left-center with one out. Isaac Pena followed with an infield single to set up first and third. Yohander Martinez then executed a safety squeeze bunt to get the Mussels on the board and tie the game 1-1.

St. Lucie retook the lead in the seventh, scoring a pair of unearned runs off of Paulshawn Pasqualotto (2-6) to make it a 3-1 game.

Fort Myers answered back the next inning as Poncho Ruiz, Brandon Winokur, and Yasser Mercedes strung together three straight two-out hits to make it a 3-2 game.

Piggybacker Joel Diaz (2-5) put together his longest outing of the season for the Mets, throwing seven innings of two-run ball while scattering eight hits and striking out two.

Juan Arnaud took over for the Mets in the ninth. Rixon Wingrove worked a leadoff walk to put the tying run aboard. After a pair of flyouts, Martinez singled to keep the game alive. Arnaud recorded his third save of the season as he got Angel Del Rosario to ground out to end the game.

The Mussels return to action on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Twins No. 9 prospect Charlee Soto (0-4, 5.64) starts for Fort Myers, opposite Irving Cota (0-0, 0.00) of St. Lucie. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.