Carpenter dominates, Fort Myers takes down St. Lucie 4-1
FORT MYERS — Michael Carpenter tossed five innings of one-run ball, as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels defeated the St. Lucie Mets 4-1 Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
Michael Carpenter (1-6) earned his first victory of the season after allowing an unearned run on three hits. He struck out a career-high seven batters and the win marked the first of his professional career.
Due to a weather delay, the contest was shortened to seven innings. The 1:57 delay was the longest of the season for a Mussels’ (52-72, 25-35) home game.
St. Lucie (76-53, 42-22) opened the scoring with a run in the top of the second inning. AJ Salgado singled to begin the frame, before coming around to score on an error by Mussel first baseman JP Smith II to take a 1-0 lead.
The Mussels responded with a trio of runs in the home half of the fourth inning. Enrique Jimenez drew a walk to start the frame, ahead of a double by Eduardo Beltre to put runners at second and third with no outs.
St. Lucie reliever Joel Lara (3-1) retired the next two batters, before issuing a walk to Bryan Acuna to load the bases. Ian Daugherty delivered a two-out, two-run single to plate Jimenez and Beltre and give the Mussels a 2-1 lead. Acuna would later score on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 3-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, Bruin Agbayani singled to right to begin the frame. A throwing error on a ground ball off the bat of Quentin Young set up second and third with no outs. Two batters later, Jimenez delivered a sacrifice fly to deep right field to extend the lead 4-1.
Merit Jones (S, 1) entered in the sixth. The Twins’ 14th round draft pick retired six of the seven batters he faced in his debut to pick up a save. To end the game, Jones struck out Sam Biller for his first professional punch out.
The final series of the season continues on today at 6:05 p.m. at Hammond Stadium. Joel Garcia (0-3, 17.28) starts on the bump for Fort Myers in game five of the series against St. Lucie. Coverage begins at 5:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.