Mets sweep away Cubs in four games
After running their winning streak to six with two wins in Lakeland, the Daytona Cubs come back home having lost four in a row after falling in back-to-back games Tuesday and Wednesday to the St. Lucie Mets.
Tuesday night's game went to the Mets by a 13-3 score, with St. Lucie breaking the game open with eight runs in the seventh against RHP Starling Peralta and RHP David Cales.
St. Lucie opened the scoring with a pair of home runs in the fourth inning by OF Aderlin Rodriguez and OF Travis Taijeron and a run-scoring triple by OF Charley Thurber.
The Cubs were able to answer back with two runs of their own in the fifth thanks to a double by OF Taiwan Easterling, and for the second straight day it appeared that the Cubs were going to be able to come back and make it a close contest.
In the bottom of the 5th, however, RHP Ben Wells (3-2) couldn't keep the game close. With two outs, OF Dustin Lawley reached on a single and Rodriguez deposited one over the left field wall to increase St. Lucie's lead back to three runs. Wells allowed five runs in five innings, including three home runs.
INF Ben Carhart picked up a hit in four trips, extending his hitting streak to 12 games and tying INF Stephen Bruno and INF Dustin Geiger for the longest among Cubs hitters this season.
RHP Matthew Bowman (1-0) picked up the victory for St. Lucie in his first start in the Florida State League, allowing three runs (all earned), six hits and one walk over six innings while striking out seven.
Wednesday's game saw the Cubs fall behind again, this time with LHP Austin Kirk on the hill, and the long ball proved problematic for another Cubs starter.
Kirk allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings and struck out four but was the second straight Cubs starter to allow three home runs.
OF Jorge Soler went 3-for-4 with his fifth home run and two doubles and INF Tim Saunders had his first multi-hit game with a triple and a bunt single.
The Cubs failed to hold a lead at any point in the four-game series.
Each team scored a run thanks to a double in the first two innings, but with the score tied at one in the third, INF Matt Reynolds hit his second home run of the year for the Mets to put St. Lucie on top 3-1. OF Jorge Soler came back with his fifth home run in the top of the fourth to make it a 3-2 game.
But the Cubs' starters continued to struggle with shutting down the St. Lucie attack, as Kirk allowed solo home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to give the Mets a 5-2 lead.
Soler continued to be the driving force for the Cubs offense, doubling in a run in the sixth to make it 5-3, and then walking in the 8th in front of Geiger's two-run single that tied the game at five in the eighth.
The Cubs had a golden chance in the 9th, getting runners to second and third and only one out, but RHP Frank Francisco struck out OF John Andreoli and INF Tim Saunders to escape his self-created jam.
In the tenth, RHP Luis Liria (0-3) couldn't complete his third inning of work. With one out, INF T.J. Rivera was hit by a pitch and Reynolds walked. Lawley fanned for the second out, but Rodriguez lined a fastball into center to send Daytona to their fourth straight loss.
The four losses drop the Cubs' record back to 16-16 and 9-8 on the road for the season. Daytona returns home to Jackie Robinson Ballpark for seven games starting tomorrow with the first of a three-game series with the Dunedin Blue Jays. RHP P.J. Francescon will take the hill for the Cubs and will face off against RHP Casey Lawrence. Game time for all three games against Dunedin is set for 7:05 p.m.