Mets Strike Early in 6-2 Win at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 4th, 2025) – The St. Lucie Mets spoiled the Daytona Tortugas' July 4th fun with a 6-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Ballpark on Friday night. The Mets now lead the season series 14-7 and improved to 9-4 at The Jack.

Yohairo Cuevas opened the scoring with his second home run of the season on a line drive off the left field foul pole in the second inning. Cuevas would finish the night 2 for 4 with homer and a double, extending his hitting streak to give games.

The Mets offense followed up Cuevas’s home run by loading the bases and scoring three more runs through productive at-bats. With three runners on, the Mets would score on a walk, a fielding error by third baseman Peyton Holt and a ground out to build a 4-0 lead.

Once the Mets took the lead, the pitching staff did the rest with starter Wellington Aracena going three innings, giving up just three hits, two runs and striking out five. Relievers Cristofer Gomez, Hunter Hodges, Gregori Louis and Juan Arnaud combined for six innings of shutout baseball, giving up just two hits and striking out seven.

Mets pitchers racked up a total of 12 strikeouts making this the 19th game of the season they have had 12 or more punch outs. Gomez comes away with the win, improving his record to 6-0. Gomez’s six wins now lead the team, passing Josh Blum, who holds a 5-0 record.

The Mets offense would go quiet after Tortugas pitcher David Lorduy entered the game. Lorduy struck out six over four innings. The Mets would eventually add an insurance run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from Kevin Villavicencio that boosted the lead to 6-2.

The Mets (42-35) are now in solo first place in the Florida State League East second half with an 8-4 record which one game over the Daytona Tortugas (7-5) The Mets have two more games against the Tortugas on Saturday and Sunday. First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.