Stone Crabs drop finale to St. Lucie 9-8

PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. (July 18, 219) - Kaleo Johnson and Moises Gomez hit back-to-back home runs Thursday, but the Charlotte Stone Crabs relinquished a six-run lead and lost the series finale 9-8 to the St. Lucie Mets at First Data Field.
With the game tied 8-8 in the bottom of the ninth, Charlotte (57-37, 22-6) reliever Simon Rosenblum-Larson (1-2) hit Wagner Lagrange with a pitch before Cody Bohanek singled to left. After a walk to pinch hitter Jeremy Vasquez loaded the bases with two outs, the Stone Crabs brought in left-hander Trey Cumbie . Mets shortstop Manny Rodriguez then laced a base hit to left to end the game and send St. Lucie (50-46, 19-11) home with a 9-8 win.
St. Lucie erased a 6-0 deficit to salvage the series finale, the largest lead the Stone Crabs have surrendered in a loss this season.
The Stone Crabs didn't waste any time jumping out to a lead against Mets starter Kyle Wilson. After Carl Chester reached on an error to start the game, Wander Franco scorched an RBI double to the gap in left center to give Charlotte a 1-0 lead. The next batter was Ronaldo Hernandez , who lined a double down the left field line to score Franco and make it 2-0.
After a passed ball and a walk put men at the corners, the Stone Crabs executed a baserunning play to push Hernandez across and make it 3-0. After two more walks loaded the bases with two outs, Jake Palomaki lined a base hit to left to score two runs and extend the Charlotte lead to 5-0. Mets reliever Marcel Renteria then delivered a wild pitch, allowing Mac Seibert to score and give the Crabs a 6-0 advantage.
Trailing by six, the Mets battled back in the bottom of the second. Cody Bohanek led off with a single. After an error, Bohanek raced home on a fielder's choice to make it 6-1. Two batters later, Blake Tiberi grounded a single to center to score Rodriguez and cut the deficit to 6-2.
Trailing by four in the bottom of the fourth, the Mets rallied for four runs on five hits to tie the game 6-6, knocking out Charlotte starter Michael Plassmeyer .
In a tie game in the top of the fifth, Johnson and Gomez both drove homers out to left, extending the Crabs' lead to 8-6. Johnson's dinger was his first at the Advanced-A level, while Gomez became the first Stone Crabs hitter to reach double digits.
However, the Mets erased the deficit immediately in the bottom of the inning. After Rodriguez delivered a one-out double, Hansel Moreno clubbed a two-run homer to center to tie the game at eight.
The Stone Crabs will return home on Friday to start a three-game series with the Dunedin Blue Jays at 6:30 p.m. Joe Ryan (6-2, 1.78) will start the series opener against Graham Spraker (6-3, 2.23) of the Jays. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.