St. Lucie Bests Manatees 4-3 Despite Nail-Biting Ninth

In a season of dominant bullpen work, the St. Lucie Mets won a nail biter by a score of 4-3 despite shaky work out of the ‘pen.

Chris Young made his first rehab start of the year since going down with a torn shoulder capsule in early 2011. Young went five shutout frames, scattering five hits and two walks while punching out four. If he can stay healthy, and that is a BIG if, he would likely fill the large hole in the rotation left by Mike Pelfrey (whoever thought I’d type those words?).

Anyway, after Young’s day was done, things got a bit interesting, as Hamilton Bennett came on and gave up a solo shot to T.J. Mittelstaedt in the sixth to make it a 1-1 ballgame.

After the Mets took a two-run lead off of a Danny Muno RBI single and the benefit of a throwing error, the Mets appeared to be in the driver’s seat, especially after Muno crushed a solo home run in the 9th to create a 4-1 lead.

Then things got dicey in the bottom half of the ninth as Adam Kolarek came on and struck out two, but surrendered a single and a double before making way for Adrian Rosario. Rosario failed to hold the two inherited runners, giving up a walk and a single before finally getting the final out of the ballgame, securing St. Lucie’s 27th victory on the year.

Lucie Logistics: Ronny Cedeno had his first rehab game yesterday with St. Lucie, going 0-4 on the day. Wilmer Flores went 1-3 with a walk amid rumors of a promotion in his future. Cesar Puello went 2-2 with two doubles, raising his average to .297 on the year. With the two runs surrendered in the ninths, Adam Kolarek’s perfect ERA of 0.00 is no more, now raised to a gaudy 0.86 ERA. The Mets look for a series win against the Manatees tonight at 6:35 with Cory Mazzoni on the hill.