St. Lucie 6 - Fort Myers 1

Allan Greene

Steven Matz tossed a seven inning gem in helping the St. Lucie Mets beat the Fort Myers Miracle 6-1 on Thursday at Hammond Stadium.

Matz, making his third start of the season and second start against the Miracle in six days, allowed just two singles and one walk in seven dominant innings. He struck out six and carried a no-hitter in the sixth.

Cam Maron, Matz’s catcher and fellow Long Islander, gave his teammate all the offense he would need. Maron delivered a two-out, two-run single in the sixth off of Brett Lee to break a scoreless tie. It’s the third time in four games against the Miracle that Maron has provided the go-ahead hit. The Mets have won all four games they’ve played against Fort Myers.

Matz did not give up a hit until there were two outs in the sixth. Desperate to get on, Levi Michael dropped down a perfectly placed bunt and reached first safely when Matz’s throw from the third base line was late.

Jorge Polanco followed with a bloop hit into right but that would be all, as Matz got Dalton Hicks to ground out to end the sixth.

The Mets added two more runs in the seventh on a two-out base hit from T.J. Rivera. With the bases loaded, Aderlin Rodriguez was plunked by a pitch to force home a run.

St. Lucie made it 6-0 in the eighth when Michael booted a ball at second and Robbie Shields scored. Later, Eudy Pina scored on Dilson Herrera’s sac fly.

The Miracle got a run off of Jake Kuebler in the eighth, but Kuebler settled down and got  the final six outs of the game without further issues.

Herrera extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in the seventh. Brandon Nimmo saw his nine-game hitting streak come to an end, but he walked in the sixth to get on base for the 13th time in 14 games. - team press reease