PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – St. Lucie pitchers Austin Troesser and Jonah Tong dominated on the mound as the Mets beat the Tampa Tarpons 3-1 at Clover Park on Friday night.
Troesser, the Mets fourth round pick last summer, made his first start of the season after coming out of the bullpen the previous two outings. Troesser struck out the first six batters he faced.
Troesser finished with eight punchouts over 4.2 innings. He held the Tarpons to one run on two hits and one walk.
Tong pitched the final 4.1 innings to get the win. He struck out six batters and now leads the Florida State League with 27 strikeouts in just 12.2 innings. Tong gave up just two hits and did not give up a run. He has not yielded an earned run this season.
The Mets offense produced three runs despite recording just two hits. Estarling Mercado and Donovan Antonia drew back-to-back walks against Tampa starter Allen Facundo to open the third inning. Mercado tagged up to third base on a fly out and scored on a ground ball hit by Ronald Hernandez. Antonia scored on the ensuing Jesus Baez ground out to make it 2-0.
Vincent Perozo extended his hitting streak to five games with a two-out RBI single in the fifth inning.
The Tarpons scored their only run on a two-out RBI double by Coby Morales in the fourth inning.
The Mets (5-8) and Tarpons (4-9) play the fifth game of their series at Clover Park on Saturday. First pitch is 6:10 p.m. It’s Marvel Super Hero Night with the Mets wearing special Iron Man jerseys that will be autographed and auctioned to support Voices for Children. The postgame fireworks show has been cancelled due to dry conditions.
