Tarpons end slide, beat Mets 14-2

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (June 16, 2022) – The Tampa Tarpons put on a dominant performance in a 14-2 victory over the St. Lucie Mets on Thursday at Clover Park. The Tarpons snapped their five-game losing streak and ended the Mets 12-game home winning streak.

The Tarpons pounded out 17 hits. Tampa left fielder Grant Richardson went 4 for 5 with a grand slam, double and five RBI. Jasson Dominguez went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles. Ben Cowles went 3 for 5 with a double and Marcos Cabrera crushed a two-run homer.

Tampa started the scoring in the first inning when Antonio Gomez hit a RBI single off Mets starter Calvin Ziegler (0-3). Roberto Chirinos hit a run-scoring ground out in the fourth to make it 2-0 and Madison Santos ripped a two-run triple in the fifth inning to open up a 4-0 lead.

The Mets scored twice in the home fifth to cut the deficit in half. Omar De Los Santos singled, stole second and third and scored on ground out by Raul Beracierta to get the Mets on the board. Brady Smith smashed a RBI single to make it 4-2.

The Tarpons started to pull away in the seventh with RBI hits from Richardson and Chirinos to go up 6-2.

The Tarpons blew the game open with six runs in the eighth. They drew five walks in the inning, including four against Mets reliever Levi David. The only hit in the frame was the grand slam by Richardson off Trey McLoughlin to make it 12-2.

Cabrera hit his two-run homer in the ninth to cap the scoring at 14-2.

Tampa starter Juan Carela (4-1) did not allow a base runner until De Los Santos singled in the fifth. He held the Mets to two runs on two hits over 6.1 innings. He struck out nine.

Ziegler took the loss after pitching just one inning and throwing 28 pitches.

The Mets (39-20) and Tarpons (25-35) play the fourth game of their series at Clover Park on Friday. It’s School’s Out Night. All K-12 students get in free. Game time is 6:10 p.m.