Sarasota Reds vs St. Lucie Mets

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds fell to the St. Lucie Mets 10-4 on Thursday night at Ed Smith Stadium. The game was kicked off by Sarasota pitcher Mark Pawelek performing the national anthem on his guitar. But that was the highlight of the night for the Reds as the Mets dominated the rest of the game.

St. Lucie took the lead in the first inning. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Reese Havens led off the game with back to back singles. Nieuwenhuis then advanced to third as Zach Lutz grounded into a double play. Carlos Guzman followed with an RBI single to score Nieuwenhuis and give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

The Mets added another run in the second inning. Stefan Welch singled to lead off the inning and Brahiam Maldonado followed with a walk to but two runners on base. Seth Williams advanced both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Then Welch scored on a sac fly by Hector Pellot to advance the Mets lead 2-0.

Sarasota reached the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning. Denis Phipps double to center to get things started. Phipps then advance to third on a wild pitch. Jason Louwsma followed with an RBI single to score Phipps and bring the Reds within a run of the lead.

The Reds tied the game in the third inning. Kris Negron and Justin Reed delivered back to back single to put runners in play. Alex Buchholz followed with an RBI double to score Negron and tie the game.

St. Lucie broke the tie in the fourth inning. Hector Pellot delivered a two run single to center that scored Brahiam Maldonado and Seth Williams to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.

But Sarasota fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Justin Reed got things started with a two out triple to right. Reed later scored on a ground ball by Alex Buchholz. Neftali Soto then delivered an RBI single to score Buchholz and tie the game 4-4.

St. Lucie posted a big inning in the sixth to retake the lead. Francisco Pena led off the inning with a single to right. Seth Williams followed with a walk. Then Hector Pellot singled to third to load the bases. But they did not stay loaded long as Kirk Nieuwenhuis went deep with a grand slam to right field, giving St. Lucie a 8-4 lead.

The Mets added two more runs to their total in the eighth inning. Stefan Welch walked to lead off the inning. Welch advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on a single by Seth Williams. Hector Pellot then hit a two run double to center to give the Mets a 10-4 win.

Angel Calero was the winning pitcher for the Mets with Edgar Ramirez earning the save. Matt Fairel was the losing pitcher for Sarasota.

For more pictures from the game, visit my Reds/Mets game gallery.