Game Recap: Blue Jays Jump St. Lucie Mets Early, Cruise to 5-1 Win; Diaz 4 runs in 4 innings in debut

 

Villavicencio hits first homer of season 

DUNEDIN, Fla. (May 27, 2022) – The Dunedin Blue Jays jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and cruised to a 5-1 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Friday at TD Ballpark. (Box Score)

The Blue Jays did the damage against Mets starter Joel Diaz, who was making his state side debut. The 18-year-old from the Dominican Republic surrendered a RBI single to Gabriel Martinez and a three-run homer to Domiano Palmegiani with one-out in the first inning to go down 4-0. 

However, Diaz (0-1) rebounded nicely. He retired the final 10 batters he faced on just 27 pitches. His final line was 4.0 innings, three hits, four runs, two walks and three strikeouts on 54 pitches. 

The Mets offense could not muster much against Dunedin starter Dahian Santos. Using a wipeout slider, Santos struck out nine and allowed just one hit and one run over 4.2 innings. The Mets first and only hit off Santos came with two outs in the fifth inning when Kevin Villavicencio hit his first home run of the season. 

Blue Jays reliever Geison Urbaez (1-0) pitched the next 3.0 innings scoreless to get the win. 

Braden Scott tossed the final 1.1 innings to get his second save. 

Mets reliever Franklin Sanchez pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts. 

The only hits for the Mets outside of the Villavicencio homer were singles from Stanley Consuegra and Jack-Thomas Wold. 

The Mets (28-15) and Blue Jays (19-24) meet for the fifth game of their series on Saturday. First pitch at TD Ballpark is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.