DUNEDIN — A scoreless pitchers' duel unraveled for the St. Lucie Mets in the eighth inning Friday night as the Dunedin Blue Jays scored five runs and pulled away for a 5-0 victory at TD Ballpark.
The loss was St. Lucie's third straight in the series. The Mets kept Dunedin off the scoreboard through seven innings behind strong outings from starter Ethan Lanthier and reliever Christian Rodriguez, but the Blue Jays sent eight batters to the plate during the decisive eighth.
Lanthier delivered four scoreless innings, allowing one hit. Rodriguez followed with three hitless frames before running into trouble in his fourth inning of work.
The eighth began when Rodriguez walked No. 9 hitter Brayden Martin, who reached on walks in all three of his plate appearances. Rodriguez then hit Jake Cook with a pitch. Blaine Bullard and Ryan Cooney followed with consecutive RBI singles to give Dunedin a 2-0 lead.
With two outs, Jake Bennett doubled over the first-base bag to drive in two more runs. Enmanuel Bonilla scored from third on a wild pitch to complete the five-run inning.
Rodriguez was charged with five runs on three hits over four innings and took the loss.
Dunedin starter Carson Messina struck out seven over a season-high 4 2/3 innings without issuing a walk. Reese Bassinger retired all four batters he faced, Landen Waters worked a perfect seventh and Josbel Garcia pitched the final two innings to complete the shutout and earn the win.
The Mets finished with five hits from five players. Simon Juan went 1-for-4 with a triple, while Aiden Robbins reached base three times with a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
St. Lucie fell to 12-21 in the second half and 45-54 overall. Dunedin improved to 17-16 in the second half and 47-51 overall.
The teams continue the series Saturday at TD Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.