Houck provides winning hit, Mets halt losing skid with 5-4 win over Blue Jays

DUNEDIN, Fla. (May 31, 2024) – The St. Lucie Mets snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays on Friday night at TD Ballpark.

The game was tied 4-4 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when play was halted due to lightning in the area. After a 1 hour and 20 minute delay, Mets reliever Juan Arnaud was able to get a lineout from Jean Joseph to strand the bases loaded.

Jesus Baez reached to start the eighth inning on an error by shortstop Manuel Beltre. Later in the inning with two outs Colin Houck belted a RBI double to put the Mets up 5-4.

Arnaud worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth and stranded Beltre on third base as the tying run. Arnaud pitched 1.1 scoreless innings to get the win.

Ryan Ammons retired the first two batters of the bottom of the ninth. He then struck out Daniel Perez, but the pitched deflected off the glove of catcher Ronald Hernandez and Perez reached on the passed ball. Marcos De La Rosa followed with a single. A wild pitch sent the tying run to third base and the winning run to second base. Ammons was able to recover and get Joseph to ground out to Houck at third base to end the game. Ammons earned his first career save.

The Blue Jays scored the first two runs of the game against Mets starter Franklin Gomez in the second inning. Cristian Feliz hit a one-out double and Edward Duran followed with a RBI double to make it 1-0. Duran later stole third base and scored on a ground out by Bryce Arnold to put the Jays up 2-0.

The Mets answered with a four-run third inning to take the lead. Willy Fanas led off with a single against Jays starter Fernando Perez. Kevin Villavicencio hit a hard ground ball that third baseman Marcos De La Rosa couldn’t see in the sun. Villavicencio raced around the bases for a RBI triple to put the Mets on the board. Diego Mosquera followed with a walk. Boston Baro then cranked a two-run triple high off the wall in center to put the Mets up 3-2. Baro scored on the ensuing sac fly by Baez to make it 4-2.

Gomez protected the lead over his final three innings of work, stranding two runners on base in each inning. He pitched 5.0 solid inning and allowed two runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out four while throwing 89 pitches in a no-decision.

The Blue Jays scored twice in the seventh inning against reliever Nick Bautista to tie the game. With one out Alexis Hernandez was hit by a pitch and Cristian Feliz hit a double to set up runners at second and third. Edward Duran hit a grounder to first base that brought in Hernandez to make it 4-3. Feliz advanced to third on the play. Feliz then scored on a bloop to the outfield hit by Bryce Arnold that tied the game 4-4. After a single by Daniel Perez the game entered the lightning delay.

Baro went 3 for 5 with a triple, double, single and two RBI.

The four Mets pitchers in the game held the Blue Jays to just 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 base runners.

The Mets (15-34) and Blue Jays (25-24) play the fifth game of their series at TD Ballpark on Saturday. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.