6/21/11

St. Lucie 3, Charlotte 2

The St. Lucie Mets clinched the first half South Division Title with a 3-2 extra-inning win Monday night at Digital Domain Park. With three games remaining in the first half, the Mets needed either one win or one Ft. Myers loss to secure the division title.



The Mets jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Matt den Dekker scored on a fielding error in the first inning. St. Lucie made it 2-0 in the fifth inning on an RBI single off the bat of Francisco Pena. Mets starter Matt Harvey was chased from the game with a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning after issuing a leadoff walk. Josh Edgin could not keep the runner from scoring tying the score 2-2 through seven innings. The score would remain that way until the bottom of the eleventh inning. A one out walk to Travis Ozga set the stage for Cesar Puello. With two outs, Puello doubled down the left field line scoring Ozga with the game winning run giving the Mets the win and the division crown.

Matt Harvey was solid in his start, tossing six innings allowing two runs, one earned on five hits while striking out four batters. Josh Edgin, Nick Carr and Jeff Kaplan combined to toss the final five innings of relief allowing only two hits the rest of the way. Kaplan got the win pitching a perfect eleventh. Cesar Puello was the hero for the Mets. Puello had three hits and drove in the game winning run. Jefry Marte also had three hits on the night.



The first half title means the Mets will have home-field advantage in the first round of the 2011 FSL playoffs. The Mets are 36-32 with only two games remaining before the end of the first half. St. Lucie continues their three-game series with the Stone Crabs Tuesday morning at Digital Domain Park. Darin Gorski gets the start for the Mets. Gorski is 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA in 14 appearances, eight starts. He has 76 strikeouts to 15 walks while holding opposing batters to a .225 batting average covering 62.2 innings of work.

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