Mets back to baseball, fall 4-2 at Jupiter

JUPITER, Fla. (August 31, 2018) - After four days of rainouts in Lakeland, the St. Lucie Mets got back on the diamond on Friday. In their series opener against Jupiter, the Mets lost to the Hammerheads 4-2 at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
The teams combined for 23 hits, all singles. The Mets collected 10 of the hits. Gavin Cecchini, Desmond Lindsay, Dan Rizzie and Dale Burdick all had two-hit games.
Mets starter Anthony Kay was on a roll until one out in the fifth inning when he was struck by a line drive in the leg. Kay popped up and walked off under his own power but he was removed from the game.
Kay allowed one earned run and struck out five in 4.1 innings. Gabriel Llanes pitched the final 3.2 innings of the game. It was his first relief appearance since July 2016 with the Brooklyn Cyclones.
Jupiter starter Brady Puckett held the Mets to two runs in 7.1 innings. He scattered 10 hits and struck out four. In three starts against the Mets this year Puckett went 3-0 and limited the Mets to four runs in 21.1 innings.
The Mets got on the board first when Lindsay hit a two-out RBI single to plate Rizzie in the third inning.
The Hammerheads answered with two runs in the bottom of the third. Riley Mahan hit a two-out RBI single to tie the game and Corey Bird scored all the way from first base on a an error in center field on the same play to make it 2-1 Jupiter.
Cameron Baranek knocked another two-out RBI single in the sixth to make it 3-1.
Mike Paez lofted a sac fly to bring home Cecchini in the eighth inning. That cut the Mets' deficit to 3-2.
Jupiter got the run back in the bottom of the eighth on another Baranek RBI single.
Chad Smith worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to pick up his 12th save.
The Mets (26-36, 53-76) and Hammerheads (29-35, 70-63) play the middle game of their series at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium on Saturday. First pitch is 5:30 p.m.